perplexing

adjective

per·​plex·​ing pər-ˈplek-siŋ 

: difficult to understand : causing confusion

A perplexing feature of insomnia is that people seem to overestimate their sleep loss.

—Rita L. Atkinson et al.

Chronic acalculous biliary disorders are among the most perplexing diagnostic and therapeutic challenges in medicine.

—Richard M. Gore

A perplexing problem, often encountered by cat owners, is that of a refusal to use the litterbox after using it for years in the past.

—Susan L. Mathews

perplexingly adverb

a perplexingly complex problem

This was all that I could observe of her in the dim light and under the perplexingly strange circumstances of our meeting.

—Wilkie Collins

Examples of perplexing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Even more perplexing: If shutting off service to new customers without an account is their strict policy, why wait until Friday to execute it? —Ryan Minton, Forbes.com, 15 May 2025

Part of the reason structures like the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall are so perplexing to scientists has to do with the cosmological principle, which most models of the cosmos are founded upon. —Robert Lea, Space.com, 20 Apr. 2025

There is sympathy for the club, having lost their head coach and their best player in the summer post-promotion, and bewilderment at two perplexing subsequent managerial hires. —Tim Spiers, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025

Perhaps most perplexing about Smash, though, is its weirdly cynical, ungenerous take on the Bombshell herself. —Greg Evans, Deadline, 10 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1585, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for perplexing

• annexing
• complexing
• flexing
• sexing
• vexing
• multiplexing