to baffle
- verb
- /ˈbæfəl/
- For years, scientists have been baffled by the causes of aluminum toxicity in plants.
- baffle many
- seem to baffle
So why mother-in-law would give our stuff to Jamie baffles me on so many levels.
- So why mother-in-law would give our stuff to Jamie baffles me on so many levels.
- Rich always baffles me 'cause he is still a police officer, still in the military.
- It had this, it used to baffle us all why it was, it was kicking off and it wasn't an early finish.
- I've always been baffled by people's inability to understand that the world is abundant and nobody, nobody is taking out of yours.
- They they found this and they use these recreated sonar images and they were baffled and he sat the Zielinski is his name.
- That's in my DNAI actually am baffled by people asking me questions like, but what's the risk of doing Snapchat and Pinterest?
- And I don't, it baffles me because the opportunity just to, to grow or for it to mean a lot more to me.
Examples
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Police are baffled.
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So I switched to five strange phenomena that baffle scientists.
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These things just baffle me.
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Her mental processes baffle me.
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Since the Korean War did not turn out that way, it seemed to baffle us completely.
Academic text (1992) -
You always kind of baffled me.
-
As I suggested in my earlier statements, people are baffled and terrified by the idea of death.
Academic text (2007) -
Melissa too was staring, baffled by the unexpected direction the argument had just taken.
Fiction book (1990) -
"How's that?" my father asked, baffled but concerned, squinting at me.
Fiction book (1992) -
The sudden disappearance of the ancient artifact completely baffles archaeologists.
Synonyms
Make someone unable to think clearly or make something hard to understand
To be too difficult for someone to understand
To make someone feel confused when something is hard to understand
To make someone unable to answer a question
To make someone confused and unable to understand
Make someone very confused and unable to think clearly
To make someone confused by making something seem mysterious
Make someone unable to think clearly
To surprise someone so much that they cannot speak or answer
To make someone very confused so they cannot think clearly
To make someone feel confused or unable to understand
To confuse someone so they do not know what to do or think
To confuse someone so they cannot think clearly
To confuse someone by making something hard to understand
Surprise and confuse a person so they do not know what to do
To annoy or puzzle someone
Antonyms
Compounds
How Confusing
Surface Forms
Etymology
Baffle One idea links it to an old word baf meaning 'to strike the mouth'. Imagine someone hit and left speechless. That image helps explain why baffle means to confuse or puzzle someone.