Word
bewildering
Phoneticsbe·wil·der·ing
US/bɪˈwɪɫdɝɪŋ/
UK/bɪwˈɪldəɹɪŋ/
Definition
adj. very confusing or difficult to understand because it is complex or offers too many choices.
adj. causing a state of confusion or perplexity; often used to describe a situation with an overwhelming number of variables or options.
Examples
“The new office layout is very bewildering.”
“The sudden change in the company's leadership caused a bewildering amount of confusion among the staff.”
“The sheer scale of the project was bewildering to the junior engineers, who struggled to grasp how the various components fit together within the larger system.”
Examples
simple
“The new office layout is very bewildering.”
contextual
“The sudden change in the company's leadership caused a bewildering amount of confusion among the staff.”
complex
“The sheer scale of the project was bewildering to the junior engineers, who struggled to grasp how the various components fit together within the larger system.”
Pitfall
I felt bewildering by the new rules.
I felt bewildered by the new rules.
Use 'bewildering' to describe the thing that causes confusion, and 'bewildered' to describe the person who feels confused.
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).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/bewildering