1
as in tricking
to cause to believe what is untrue
bamboozled by con men into buying worthless land in the desert
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in baffling
to throw into a state of mental uncertainty
I'm completely bamboozled by the latest changes in the tax code
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of bamboozling
And now, a class action has been filed against Spotify for allegedly bamboozling consumers.
—
Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 5 Nov. 2025
Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 5 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bamboozling
Verb
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Prompt injection is a method of tricking LLMs into doing things they are normally prevented from doing.—
Bruce Schneier,
IEEE Spectrum,
21 Jan. 2026
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While cold can damage plants, weather that’s too warm too soon can also have a negative effect on bulbs by tricking them into sprouting early.—
Andrea Beck,
Better Homes & Gardens,
9 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Georgia basketball’s matchup with Tennessee ended in baffling fashion Wednesday night.—
Olivia Sayer,
AJC.com,
29 Jan. 2026
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The pilot of a private jet reportedly made an eerie discovery while flying thousands of feet over Rhode Island, marking the latest in unexplained encounters baffling both experts and civilians alike.—
Julia Bonavita,
FOXNews.com,
22 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Watching Bedard break ankles on a nightly basis like Allen Iverson on skates, attempting one-man rushes most players couldn’t even fathom, fooling elite goaltenders with his patented drag-and-drive release, is exhilarating.—
Mark Lazerus,
New York Times,
3 Feb. 2026
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Anyone who says otherwise is fooling themselves.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
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And aren’t our real-life romantic complications bewildering enough?—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
4 Sep. 2025
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Its ginormous investments in higher-value, tech-heavy sectors from smartphones to autos to semiconductors to biotechnology are disrupting the global landscape at bewildering speed.—
William Pesek,
Forbes.com,
27 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Although appearances can be deceiving.—
Frank Scheck,
HollywoodReporter,
26 Jan. 2026
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Ah, but appearances can be deceiving.—
Jim Harrington,
Mercury News,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Too many turnaround attempts see a CEO throwing spaghetti at the wall in the hopes something will work, further confusing the rank and file and sapping their confidence in management.—
Phil Wahba,
Fortune,
30 Jan. 2026
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One thing confusing some residents is snow emergency declarations and the residential street parking restrictions.—
Veronica Ortega,
CBS News,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
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This Upper Paleolithic burial even became famous, though puzzling to researchers, because the unusual skeletal remains were even disfigured.—
Maria Mocerino,
Interesting Engineering,
31 Jan. 2026
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But in recent years, Betelgeuse has thrown astronomers a few puzzling curveballs that have required serious detective work to solve.—
Ashley Strickland,
CNN Money,
20 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The disjunction between the abstract composition and the notion of self-portraiture appeared perplexing in its own right; its inoperability only exacerbated the viewer’s frustration and redoubled the artist’s impish provocation.—
Ara H. Merjian,
Artforum,
1 Jan. 2026
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Even more than the finished show, this eerie, perplexing multi-Gaga spectacle feels like a glimpse into her subconscious.—
Brian Hiatt,
Rolling Stone,
13 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Bamboozling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bamboozling. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.
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