bewildered

UK/bəˈwɪldəd/US/bəˈwɪldɚd/

adjectiveB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #8,209 of 15,258neutral

Bewildered means totally confused and lost. A bewildered look, utterly bewildered, bewildered by it.

It is confusion with helplessness in it — a bewildered person does not know what is happening or what to do — which is stronger than puzzled. The word is built on wilder, meaning to lead astray into wild country, so being bewildered is being lost in the woods. Note bewildering, which describes the cause.

Definitions of bewildered

1adjectivebewilderedTotally confused and lost.B2+
“The bewildered tourist stared at the map, unable to find the station.”
synonyms: baffled, disoriented

bewildered is a state of confusion.

Also accepted in games: baffled

Practised in Feelings & Character

Practise this word

bewildered in the wild

In psychology, confusion is the quality or emotional state of being bewildered or disoriented.
Confusion
The production of Cymbeline that opened in Birmingham in April of that year "bewildered" critics, leading to what Jackson called "a national and worldwide controversy".
Modern dress
The Gentlewoman and the bewildered Doctor exeunt, realizing these are the symptoms of a guilt-ridden mind.
Sleepwalking scene
What can there be in a simple little story like that, to make people praise it so?" she said, quite bewildered.
Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy· Louisa May Alcott

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

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