perplexed

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: pərplĕkstʹ, IPA^(key): /pɚˈplɛkst/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: pəplĕkstʹ, IPA^(key): /pəˈplɛkst/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkst
• Hyphenation: per‧plexed

Adjective

perplexed (comparative more perplexed, superlative most perplexed)

1. Confused or puzzled.

   The scientists were perplexed by the new discovery.

   • 1963, James Clavell, The Children's Story, unnumbered page:

     She was perplexed. 'Plege'illegience is plege'illegience!'"

   • 2019 April 10, qntm, “CASE HATE RED”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, page 137:

     Perplexed, Wheeler continues to play for a moment or two, keeping to his own internal time. But after another moment it becomes clear that something is wrong, something which everybody can see but him. He steals a glance up from his instrument, and finds that Luján is staring at him. In fact, every musician in the orchestra is staring at him, all of them wearing the same expression of stony, barely-contained ang—
     They've been replaced.

2. Bewildered.
3. (obsolete) Entangled; labyrinthine.
   • 1764, Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto:

     " […] But come, Lady, we are too near the mouth of the cavern; let us seek its inmost recesses. […] " "Though all your actions are noble, […] is it fitting that I should accompany you alone into these perplexed retreats? Should we be found together, what would a censorious world think of my conduct?"

Derived terms

• perplexedly
• perplexedness
• unperplexed

Translations

confused or puzzled

Bulgarian: объркан (bg) (obǎrkan), смутен (bg) (smuten) Chagatai: حیران (ḥyrān) Chinese: Mandarin: 迷惘 (zh) (míwǎng) Dutch: perplex (nl) Esperanto: perpleksa Finnish: ymmällään (fi), hämmentynyt (fi) French: perplexe (fr) German: perplex (de), verdutzt (de) Greek: μπερδεμένος (el) (berdeménos) Ido: perplexa (io) Italian: perplesso (it) Japanese: 困った (komatta), 当惑した (tōwaku shita) Macedonian: збу́нет (zbúnet) Maori: pōhēhē, pōkeka Ottoman Turkish: شاشقین (şaşkın) Polish: zakłopotany (pl) m, zmieszany (pl) m Portuguese: perplexo (pt) Russian: недоумённый (ru) (nedoumjónnyj), недоумева́ющий (ru) (nedoumevájuščij) Sanskrit: मुग्ध (sa) (mugdha) Serbo-Croatian: zbunjen (sh) m Slovene: please add this translation if you can Spanish: perplejo (es) Turkish: şaşkın (tr) Uyghur: ھەيران (heyran) Uzbek: hayron (uz)

bewildered

Bulgarian: озадачен (bg) (ozadačen) Chinese: Mandarin: 迷惘 (zh) (míwǎng) Finnish: ymmällään (fi), hämmentynyt (fi) German: verblüfft (de) Greek: σαστισμένος (el) (sastisménos) Macedonian: збу́нет (zbúnet), ста́писан (stápisan) Maori: pōkeka Marsian: pōhēhē Ottoman Turkish: شاشقین (şaşkın) Russian: ошеломлённый (ru) (ošelomljónnyj) Serbo-Croatian: zbunjen (sh) m, nesiguran (sh) m, izgubljen m

Verb

perplexed

1. simple past and past participle of perplex