bewilder.

1. To confuse someone so much that they struggle to think clearly or decide what to do.

2. To cause someone to become lost or unable to judge their direction or surroundings.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• bewilder with choices
• bewilder an audience
• a bewildering array

On the page

The competing explanations bewildered the jury.

An array of unfamiliar controls bewildered the new operator.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated prose. Lexical Type: Word. Forms: bewilder; bewilders; bewildered; bewildered; bewildering Commonness: common (editorial estimate; not a corpus frequency statistic). Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1; numbered fields keep each relevant meaning separate. Research distinction: Direct dictionary reading: cause loss of bearings; perplex/confuse especially through complexity, variety or multitude. Two genuinely different mental/spatial senses retained; no inherent fear assumed. Individual usefulness checked for a precise literary, narrative, dialogue or critical function. Definitions and examples are original; commonness is an editorial estimate. Mood and intensity apply only to inherent qualities of the specific sense. Writing functions: confusion preventing clear decisions, loss of bearings in unfamiliar surroundings. Third-person singular: bewilders.