as in to perplex
to throw into a state of mental uncertainty
an actor who's easily flummoxed by any changes in the script
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Recent Examples of flummox
By Becky Krystal The Washington Post Cooking chicken can flummox even the more confident home cooks among us.
—
The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Mar. 2026
Health care prices are on the rise, and patients are flummoxed that even insurance companies aren’t doing more to control costs.
—Elisabeth Rosenthal, Washington Post, 2 Mar. 2026
Weeks later, we’re still flummoxed by our magician’s final trick.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 Feb. 2026
Something about his presence flummoxed her, a feeling that never faded.
—CBS News, 8 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for flummox
The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Mar. 2026
Health care prices are on the rise, and patients are flummoxed that even insurance companies aren’t doing more to control costs.
—Elisabeth Rosenthal, Washington Post, 2 Mar. 2026
Weeks later, we’re still flummoxed by our magician’s final trick.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 Feb. 2026
Something about his presence flummoxed her, a feeling that never faded.
—CBS News, 8 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for flummox
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flummox
Verb
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The Fifty Shades of Grey actress was perplexed.—
Raechal Shewfelt,
Entertainment Weekly,
31 Mar. 2026
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Their presence prompted nervousness among beachgoers and surfers sharing the water, but marveled researchers who were perplexed by the abnormally longer stay close to shore.—
Laylan Connelly,
Oc Register,
27 Mar. 2026
Verb
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There aren’t many ways to earn a club’s first win better than bewildering the league’s defending champions at their place.—
Braidon Nourse,
Denver Post,
26 Mar. 2026
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Now, many millions of Americans are bewildered by events.—
David French,
Mercury News,
3 Mar. 2026
Verb
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His disaffection baffles his acquaintances and pains his tubercular wife (a superb Quinn Jackson), whose doctor (Lambert Tamin) has only contempt for her husband’s agonizing.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
3 Apr. 2026
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The Late Show host appeared genuinely baffled by the president’s current poll numbers during his opening monologue on Tuesday, mostly due to the 22 percent of Americans who are still throwing their support behind the 79-year-old former reality star.—
Emlyn Travis,
Entertainment Weekly,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
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As if that wasn’t confusing enough, not all Christians agree on what day of the calendar that specific Sunday is.—
Manon Bischoff,
Scientific American,
4 Apr. 2026
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This was not to be confused with the Ulster Volunteer Force or the Ulster Defence Association, both terrorist organizations that vehemently favored the link with Britain.—
Colm Tóibín,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Why a complete and puzzling change in my lifelong habits?—
Dr. C. E. Kuschel,
Outdoor Life,
9 Apr. 2026
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But how Bhuva's name came to be listed on reimbursements for at least 2,800 patients across 126 California hospices in 2024 is a question that has puzzled advocates who have tracked the unusual explosion of hospice providers in Southern California in recent years.—
Grace Manthey,
CBS News,
7 Apr. 2026
Verb
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This description recalls what leadership expert Jason Wild previously told Fortune about how AI tools are probabilistic, befuddling managers everywhere.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
8 Apr. 2026
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Duchamp’s ensuing readymades, many of them iconic works of the Dada movement of the 1910s, continued to vex and befuddle.—
Alex Greenberger,
ARTnews.com,
8 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Flummox.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flummox. Accessed 11 Apr. 2026.
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