1
as in rotten
having undergone organic breakdown
addled eggs found on a long abandoned hen's nest
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in dazed
suffering from mental confusion
one of the more addled audience members confused Ghana with Guyana
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in baffled
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 addled
Joel Mathis,
TheWeek,
30 Apr. 2026
Instead, director Weston Scott’s concept deepens the text, making the addled, voice-hearing brain that could commit or attempt assassination all the more real and dangerous.
—
Theater Critic,
San Francisco Chronicle,
29 Mar. 2026
Eleanor Pringle,
Fortune,
4 Feb. 2026
That decision, even if only for exploratory purposes, should be left to a Congress whose majority isn’t addled by either devotion to Trump or fear of him.
—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
16 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for addled
Adjective
Now, parents are pushing back and demanding less screen time and more analog work for their algorithm-addled kids.
—
Joel Mathis,
TheWeek,
30 Apr. 2026
Instead, director Weston Scott’s concept deepens the text, making the addled, voice-hearing brain that could commit or attempt assassination all the more real and dangerous.
—
Theater Critic,
San Francisco Chronicle,
29 Mar. 2026
Verb
An environment addled by politics isn’t one most CEOs relish, Griffin, 57, told the Wall Street Journal’s Invest Live conference yesterday.
—
Eleanor Pringle,
Fortune,
4 Feb. 2026
That decision, even if only for exploratory purposes, should be left to a Congress whose majority isn’t addled by either devotion to Trump or fear of him.
—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
16 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for addled
Recent Examples of Synonyms for addled
Adjective
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To be fair, the DCEU, the preceding web of films, had nearly half of its movies land rotten scores.
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Big Red might be a braggart, a bully and rotten to the core, but Lasdun invokes Thomas De Quincey’s neat point about how a man’s capacity to rob says nothing about his propensity to murder.
Adjective
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Humans of all ages, in fact, stare dazed into glowing screens.
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Rapkin, truth be told, looked a little dazed.
Verb
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His mother, Ahmani Hicks, describes him as a kid who loved sports, and she's baffled as to why her son was targeted.
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Known as the Galactic Center Excess, a spherical gamma-ray glow extending out for thousands of light-years from the core of our galaxy, this high-energy light has baffled researchers for over a decade.
Adjective
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Lineage officials said that their top priority as of Monday night was addressing the stench permeating over Boyle Heights due to the spoiled food.
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Blyth was nominated in the supporting role as Mildred's spoiled daughter, Veda, who seduces her mother's second husband (Zachary Scott), then riddles him with bullets in a jealous rage.
Adjective
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Fido was fine, if a little bewildered, and in February 1973, the board lifted its book bans.
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At the risk of sounding less like a columnist and more like a bewildered bystander … what the heck happened?
Verb
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Narcissism should never be confused with the healthy form of philautia, a unique Greek philosophy of self-love.
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One workshop is a Mindful Archery class, not to be confused with her other course Meditative Archery, which involves Jungian journaling; and there’s a one-on-one archery session with spiritual guidance.
Adjective
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At a time when the Earth was bare, when there were no vertebrates, no trees, no leaves, no flowering plants, and no plants with seeds, millipedes were feeding on decaying mosses, decomposed slime, and primordial gunk.
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Inspectors also found a decomposed rat in the basement.
Adjective
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Some big rubber balls had been tossed in to keep them distracted.
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The problem, Larson said, is that Congress was highly distracted at the time with passing the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
Cite this Entry
“Addled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/addled. Accessed 3 Jul. 2026.
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