Word
fuddle
Phoneticsfud·dle
US/ˈfʊdəɫ/
UK/fˈʌdəl/
Definition
v. to make someone feel confused or unable to think clearly, often because of alcohol or being very tired.
v. to confuse or muddle the mind; to intoxicate mildly. Often used in the passive form to describe a state of mental cloudiness.
Examples
“The complicated instructions fuddle my brain.”
“After hours of staring at the spreadsheets, the numbers began to fuddle his mind and he had to take a break.”
“The witness appeared to be fuddled by the barrister's rapid-fire questioning, leading to several contradictory statements during the cross-examination.”
Examples
simple
“The complicated instructions fuddle my brain.”
contextual
“After hours of staring at the spreadsheets, the numbers began to fuddle his mind and he had to take a break.”
complex
“The witness appeared to be fuddled by the barrister's rapid-fire questioning, leading to several contradictory statements during the cross-examination.”
Usage
The verb is transitive and often appears as the past participle 'fuddled' to describe a state of confusion.
Etymology
It is compared to Dutch vod (“soft”) and German dialect fuddeln (“to swindle”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Synonyms
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/fuddle