From time to time, we all find ourselves unable to understand things, whether it’s instructions for a piece of equipment that confuse us, an event or situation that we can’t explain or just a comment by a friend. Life is sometimes just confusing! This is reflected in the number of near-synonyms and phrases that describe being confused and things that confuse us. This week we thought we would take a look at them.
Let’s start with some common near-synonyms for ‘confused’. Perplexed is one: Her speech left some of the audience looking perplexed. Puzzled is another. Like perplexed, it means ‘confused because you do not understand something’: He had a puzzled look on his face. / I’m a bit puzzled as to why she did that. The adjectives perplexing and puzzling are used too, describing things that we do not understand: I find their attitude quite perplexing. / In some ways, it’s a puzzling novel.
The word baffled is somewhat stronger, describing how we feel when we are completely unable to understand or explain something, and often surprised by it too: Drivers were left baffled in Lancashire after seeing a mountain of apples at the roadside. The –ing adjective baffling is used too to describe the thing that you are unable to understand: Why would anyone do such a strange thing? It’s baffling, isn’t it?
Bewildered is another near-synonym of ‘confused’ but this time with the additional meaning of ‘not knowing what to do’: Elderly patients, looking bewildered, try to catch the doctor’s attention. The adjective bewildering is also used, sometimes before nouns such as ‘range’ and ‘array’ (= large group of things). A ‘bewildering range’ or ‘array’ is a group of things so large that you do not know which to choose: I had before me a bewildering array of options.
Two other ‘confused’ adjectives with additional meanings are dazed and disoriented. Someone who is dazed is unable to think clearly because they are extremely tired or shocked after an accident or bad news, etc.: He had a dazed expression and was unresponsive. Disoriented, meanwhile, means ‘confused about where you are and where you are going’: Whales can become disoriented in shallow water.
Turning now to phrases in this area, if something that is said or written doesn’t make sense, it cannot be understood: This line doesn’t make any sense. If you can’t make sense of something confusing, you can’t understand it: I’ve read the instructions three times and I still can’t make sense of them! If you are at a loss to do something, you are completely confused and do not know what to do or say: I’m at a loss to explain what has happened. Finally, if you are at sea or all at sea, you are confused and do not know what to do: No one has explained the new system to me and I’m all at sea.
We hope you found our post helpful – and not in the least perplexing!
discombobulate, nonplus, and confound could be added to the list?
Discombobulate, confound, and nonplus could be added to the list?
Never heard those, please clarify meaning.
Nice collation!
Thanks
I’m Very excited to know such a nice collection ,thank u soo much and keep going to teach like great strategies.
Thanks
On Wed, Jun 14, 2017 at 5:02 PM, About Words – Cambridge Dictionaries Online blog wrote:
> Kate Woodford posted: ” by Kate Woodford From time to time, we all find > ourselves unable to understand things, whether it’s instructions for a > piece of equipment that confuse us, an event or situation that we can’t > explain or just a comment by a friend. Life is sometimes ” >
It was quite clear the explanations about puzzling things. Great comments that could summarise the subject. Congratulations!
Devastating!!!! I loved it! Unbewilderedly!!!
Really cristal clear. Thanks.
A nice article but it could be improved with the addition of “make head (n)or tail of it”. Meaning understand and usually used in the negative i.e. “I couldn’t make head nor tail of it.”
very close to understand
it does not make sense was my golden sentence when I was at school..
Thanks for building up my vocabulary !
What? (wink)
And what about of “embarrass”?
Excellent! Thanks. Muddled should be also here. 🙂
Wow, its perplexing-ly baffling!! thumps up to the author!
Very nice and no scope left for any confusion…thanks
Great explanations! Thank you very much!
thanks for the explanations am not all at sea
I love this, it has just added more to my knowledge. Kudos to the writer.
what about the embarizing?
This is an amazing article, I have just read!
Explanations are so clear, concrete and at the same time intuitive. It helps me to broaden my vocabulary so much! Bewildering guidelines for my Bachelor Thesis made me feel so perplexed that I had to ask my supervisor for help. He told me that those guidelines just do not make sense and recommended to read a book instead.
Please, write more! Your articles help us to feel more confident and less at a loss to express our thoughts and feelings.
Thank you, Kate! I’ve often wondered about the difference between ‘disoriented’ and ‘disorientated’. Could you explain this, please?
Good work! And I have my additional suggestion for “flustered”.
Thanks, Sebastian! And yes, a good addition!
On real-time, these words will for sure leave us bewildering. The more I read the more I can understand it. Thanks for sharing such a detailed info.
You’re very welcome! I’m glad you found it useful.
The approach to highlighting the key words is useful for studying.