as in baffling
to throw into a state of mental uncertainty
we were mystified by the sudden changes in the tax code
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as in perplexing
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Recent Examples of mystifying
Thomas Drance, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
The sudden explosive change of air pressure and the heating of the air itself cleared every cloud out of the sky, mystifying Baxter and everyone else who witnessed the disappearance.
—Charles Pellegrino, Rolling Stone, 6 Aug. 2025
Adjective
Elias Pettersson, the forward Pettersson will look to bounce back from a mystifying stretch of mediocre hockey (at least when compared to his own lofty standard) that has persisted for 20 months now, dating back to the 2024 NHL All-Star break.
—Thomas Drance, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
The sudden explosive change of air pressure and the heating of the air itself cleared every cloud out of the sky, mystifying Baxter and everyone else who witnessed the disappearance.
—Charles Pellegrino, Rolling Stone, 6 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mystifying
Verb
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In May, Kennedy vowed to find what caused autism by September, baffling scientists who near-unanimously believe there is no one cause of the condition.—
Sasha Rogelberg,
Fortune,
22 Sep. 2025
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This is stuttering, crashing and other issues, even on high-end hardware way above recommended specs, which is baffling some.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The phenomenon is called seasonal asynchrony, and a new study finds these perplexing locations appear in tropical mountains of countries like Costa Rica as well as places like California that have Mediterranean climates.—
N'dea Yancey-Bragg,
USA Today,
22 Sep. 2025
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The Quiz In one of the more perplexing acquisitions this year, early 2000s music sharing platform LimeWire acquired the rights to the infamous Fyre Festival in an auction this week.—
Maggie McGrath,
Forbes.com,
19 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Your appetite might differ, but for me, nine novels in, all this code-cracking and jigsaw-puzzling is no longer thrilling.—
Kathryn Schulz,
New Yorker,
22 Sep. 2025
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This is puzzling since successful organizations focus on people, processes, and cultural change besides technology implementation.—
London School of Economics,
Forbes.com,
16 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Tuesday will go down as one of Boston’s most confounding losses of the season, a 4-3 defeat in 11 innings to the Baltimore Orioles in which the club went 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position.—
Mac Cerullo,
Boston Herald,
22 Aug. 2025
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
Adjective
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Take the quiz here … CHAOTIC CALAMITY – Seahawks' celebration turns to disaster as bizarre fumble gives Cardinals new life.—
,
FOXNews.com,
26 Sep. 2025
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Watch On Together, the beads and star arms painted a bizarre, layered portrait of Saturn's skies.—
Sharmila Kuthunur,
Space.com,
25 Sep. 2025
Verb
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CarShield has received positive comments for its breadth of coverage and quick response times, although some policyholders have complained about claim denials, fine-print surprises and confusing sales practices.—
Brian Sloan,
CNBC,
3 Oct. 2025
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The merger will divide Elon, confusing prospective and current students.—
Saleen Martin,
USA Today,
2 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Known for their loud personalities, huskies are no stranger to using their voices, but a video of a senior, deaf husky's silent howl is proving that even without sound, the breed still speaks volumes.—
Liz O'Connell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Oct. 2025
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Holland also told police about other strange behavior, including an argument while shopping at Wal-Mart, where Overstreet looked at her angrily and pointed at a missing person's picture of Myers posted inside the store.—
Kristine Phillips,
IndyStar,
3 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mystifying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mystifying. Accessed 4 Oct. 2025.
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