bewildering definition

English

Etymology

From bewilder (“to confuse, disorientate, or puzzle someone, especially with many different choices”) +‎ -ing (suffix forming nouns or noun-like words from verbs, denoting the act of doing something, an action, or the embodiment of an action; and forming the present participles of verbs).^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /bɪˈwɪldəɹɪŋ/, /bɪˈwɪldɹɪŋ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: be‧wil‧der‧ing

Adjective

bewildering (comparative more bewildering, superlative most bewildering)

1. Very baffling, confusing, or perplexing, often due to a very large choice being available.

   Synonyms: dizzying, head-scratching, mind-boggling, puzzlesome; see also Thesaurus:confusing

   Antonym: unbewildering

   There was a bewildering collection of curiosities filling the room.

   • 1791–1792 (published 1793)​, William Wordsworth, “Descriptive Sketches, Taken during a Pedestrian Tour in the Alps”, in Henry [Hope] Reed, editor, The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Philadelphia, Pa.: Hayes & Zell, […], published 1860, OCLC 6755364, page 33, column 1:

     —At once bewildering mists around him close, / And cold and hunger are the least of woes; / The Demon of the Snow, with angry roar / Descending, shuts for aye his prison door.

   • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], OCLC 55746801, pages 98–99:

     The two young Cratchits laughed tremendously at the idea of Peter's being a man of business; and Peter himself looked thoughtfully at the fire from between his collars, as if he were deliberating what particular investments he should favour when he came into the receipt of that bewildering income.

Derived terms

• bewilderingly
• bewilderingness
• unbewildering

Related terms

• bewilder
• bewilderment

Translations

Noun

bewildering (plural bewilderings)

1. gerund of bewilder: bewilderment.
   • 1806, William Wordsworth, “The Redbreast and the Butterfly”, in Poems, in Two Volumes, volume I, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], published 1807, OCLC 262842809, page 17:

     Can this be the Bird, to man so good, / Our consecrated Robin! / That, after their bewildering, / Did cover with leaves the little children, / So painfully in the wood?

   • 1852 July, Herman Melville, “Book VI. Isabel, and the First Part of the Story of Isabel.”, in Pierre: Or, The Ambiguities, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 12230558, section V, page 168:

     Then the bewilderings of the comings and the goings of the coffins at the large and populous house; these bewilderings came over me. What was it to be dead? What is it to be living?

Verb

bewildering

1. present participle of bewilder

References