Perplex
[pə'pleks] or [pɚ'plɛks]
Definition
(verb.) be a mystery or bewildering to; 'This beats me!'; 'Got me--I don't know the answer!'; 'a vexing problem'; 'This question really stuck me'.
Checker: Stan--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) To involve; to entangle; to make intricate or complicated, and difficult to be unraveled or understood; as, to perplex one with doubts.
(a.) To embarrass; to puzzle; to distract; to bewilder; to confuse; to trouble with ambiguity, suspense, or anxiety.
(a.) To plague; to vex; to tormen.
(a.) Intricate; difficult.
Typed by Amalia
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Entangle, tangle, complicate, involve, snarl, make intricate, make difficult.[2]. Embarrass, puzzle, distract, pose, bewilder, beset, mystify, confuse, confound.
Edited by Elsie
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Embarrass, puzzle, entangle, involve, encumber, complicate, confuse, bewilder,mystify, harass, entangle
ANT:Clear, enlighten, explicate, disentangle, simplify, elucidate, disencumber
Typist: Lolita
Definition
v.t. to make difficult to be understood: to embarrass: to puzzle: to tease with suspense or doubt.—n. (obs.) a difficulty.—adv. Perplex′edly.—n. Perplex′edness.—adj. Perplex′ing.—adv. Perplex′ingly.—n. Perplex′ity state of being perplexed: confusion of mind arising from doubt &c.: intricacy: embarrassment: doubt.
Typed by Humphrey
Examples
- You puzzle me, Jane: your look and tone of sorrowful audacity perplex and pain me. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- An open letter is the subject of the trooper's speculations, and it seems to perplex him mightily. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- There was no multitude of resources to perplex me--there was absolutely no one to depend on, in the first instance, but myself. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- She was rather surprised at Dr. Donaldson's early visit, and perplexed by the anxious faces of husband and child. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- The dame looked more perplexed than before. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Cos, says Jo with a perplexed stare but without being at all shaken in his certainty, cos that there's the wale, the bonnet, and the gownd. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- And you may further imagine that his instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass and requiring him to name them,--will he not be perplexed? Plato. The Republic.
- Tarzan was perplexed. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- She looked perplexed, but made no answer. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Though he said this gaily, he said it with a perplexed and inquisitive face, as if he actually did not know what to make of himself. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The East came to the Western capitals with perplexing demands. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Honorius was succeeded by Gregory IX (1227), who evidently came to the papal throne with a nervous resolution to master this perplexing young man. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Such an elaborately developed, perplexing, exciting dream was certainly never dreamed by a girl in Eustacia's situation before. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- By far the most perplexing of these new manufacturing problems was the lamp. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- If his progress downward had been attended with difficulties and uncertainty, his journey back was infinitely more perplexing. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- We read in Hue's Travels how perplexing he and his fellow missionary found this possession of a common tradition of worship. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- It was a brilliant elucidation of what had been utterly perplexing. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Hence the various purposes or inclinations that alternately prevail, and the uncertainty that perplexes us. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
Edited by Blair