as in dazed
suffering from mental confusion
my brain grew more and more addle as I made my way through the tax instructions
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in to bewilder
to throw into a state of mental uncertainty
after slipping on the ice, Bethany was so addled that she left her groceries where they'd fallen
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of addle
Ann Hornaday, Twin Cities, 25 July 2019
Marco Della Cava, USA Today, 10 June 2025
The surfer is increasingly addled by visions that come to him in harrowing split-second blackouts.
—Glenn Kenny, New York Times, 1 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for addle
Adjective
Soon enough, the foursome are in the back of that truck in an adventure that begins as a moneymaking scheme and promises to become a heroic journey into the heart of white supremacy at its most virulent and addle-minded.
—Ann Hornaday, Twin Cities, 25 July 2019
Verb
By 1971, with the band addled by drug use and internal strife, Sly and the Family Stone would increasingly lose tour bookings and fail to produce music that matched the songs of just a few years prior.
—Marco Della Cava, USA Today, 10 June 2025
The surfer is increasingly addled by visions that come to him in harrowing split-second blackouts.
—Glenn Kenny, New York Times, 1 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for addle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for addle
Adjective
-
In his emotional breakdowns, Elliott buckles under his testy relationship with his mother Lynn and then wanders through gatherings and parties with a perpetually dazed expression.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
10 Apr. 2026
-
No one is immune to the lampooning, even the dazed and confused sons and daughters who get sidelined and pawned off due to their parents’ ambitions, neuroses and desires to achieve greatness.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
7 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Netizens were bewildered by the latest pivot, resulting in plenty of mockery on social media.—
Victor Tangermann,
Futurism,
16 Apr. 2026
-
But even more than engaging the big ideas that Emma’s revelation triggers — pun somewhat intended — Lee and Borli wanted to craft an experience that would mimic its main characters’ bewildering interiority.—
Sarah Shachat,
IndieWire,
6 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Connie is bewildered but happy about this.—
Alice Burton,
Vulture,
20 Apr. 2026
-
This sometimes left audience members bewildered about what had actually happened.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
6 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Captain Sidney Crosby was similarly baffled.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
23 Apr. 2026
-
The hosts are baffled and intrigued.—
Maddie Connors,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
SpaceX, the dominant player in the burgeoning commercial space market, is running behind on its huge lunar lander and is more distracted than ever with an initial sale of shares to the public that could raise as much as $75 billion.—
Thomas Black,
Mercury News,
24 Apr. 2026
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Experts say large gatherings — from Fiesta events to packed Spurs watch parties — can create the kind of close-quarters environment where bad actors may try to take advantage of distracted crowds.—
Jacob Beltran,
San Antonio Express-News,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Baer appeared perplexed by this coy pretense of innocence.—
Patrick Radden Keefe,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
-
Stocks’ march higher in the face of deepening geopolitical uncertainty is leaving some on Wall Street increasingly perplexed.—
Yun Li,
CNBC,
13 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
It gets filled by outside forces, many of whom have foreign ties and understand that a confused and misinformed public is easier to manipulate than an informed one.—
Julian Baron,
Baltimore Sun,
19 Apr. 2026
-
The second is that Trump, as strategist-in-chief, keeps giving his negotiators objectives so implausible, confused or contradictory that even the wiliest diplomats in history — a Klemens von Metternich in the 19th century, say, or a Henry Kissinger in the 20th — would come up empty.—
Andreas Kluth,
Mercury News,
18 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Old luggage barcode stickers can confuse airline systems and increase the risk of bags being misrouted or delayed.—
Joey Skladany,
Travel + Leisure,
25 Apr. 2026
-
Directness is often confused with insensitivity.—
Jonathan Alpert OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
25 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Addle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/addle. Accessed 27 Apr. 2026.
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