bewildered

adjective

be·​wil·​dered bi-ˈwil-dərd 

bē-

: deeply or utterly confused or perplexed

I was appalled and was too bewildered to do or say anything.

—Bram Stoker

He looked at her with a bewildered expression.

Speaking for myself, I stumbled into motherhood and was bewildered at the shift of gears, the volte-face required to reorient myself, my values and my way of life into being a carer of small children.

—Madeleine Bunting

Synonyms

• addle
• addled
• addlepated
• bedeviled
• befogged
• befuddled
• bemused
• bushed [chiefly Australian]
• confounded
• confused
• dazed
• distracted
• dizzy
• dopey
• dopy
• fogged
• mixed-up
• muddleheaded
• muzzy
• pixilated
• pixillated
• punch-drunk
• punchy
• raddled
• shell-shocked
• silly
• slaphappy
• spaced-out
• spaced
• spacey
• spacy
• stunned
• stupefied
• zonked
• zonked-out

Examples of bewildered in a Sentence

the bewildered child wandered aimlessly around the playground

Recent Examples on the Web

Although some informed American observers anticipated the decision, most were caught flat-footed; some seemed downright bewildered. —Henry Farrell, Foreign Affairs, 14 Dec. 2015

Russian forces have lost only a few vehicles but their bewildered infantry have surrendered to the attacking Ukrainians by the dozen. —David Axe, Forbes, 17 Aug. 2024

There is minimal gore in the death scenes, but the screams and scares still bewildered critics in 1974. —Edward Frumkin, IndieWire, 7 Aug. 2024

Her hair was messy, and her face had a sort of creased, bewildered look. —Nell Freudenberger, The New Yorker, 28 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1760, in the meaning defined above