befuddle

UK/bɪˈfʌdl/

verbC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — fuddle sits at #14,415leans spoken

Other forms: befuddled, befuddling

To befuddle is to muddle somebody's thinking. Befuddle the witness.

It suggests confusion rather than deception, though drink is the classic cause. To befuddle somebody with detail is a real tactic in argument and in selling.

Definitions of befuddle

1verbbefuddleTo muddle somebody's thinking.C2
“The wording was enough to befuddle anybody reading it quickly.”

befuddle is a confusing.

Also accepted in games: addle

Where it comes from

From be- + fuddle.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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