befuddle

The absurdist’s power rests in their ability to befuddle and bewilder, trusting the joke will land with the right folks and insult their target’s intelligence.

From Salon ● May 21, 2026

Today’s pitchers befuddle hitters with velocity and spin rate while exiting before 100 pitches.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

He says he has drawn on classic police interrogation techniques to befuddle chatbots and get them to "crack".

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2025

Unlike other opposing pitchers that befuddle Seattle’s swing-happy hitters with breaking balls, Woods Richardson challenged them with fastballs — and beat them.

From Seattle Times ● May 6, 2024

Jason wondered if Piper was working some sort of Aphrodite magic on him—like maybe every time he mentioned Reyna’s name, she would befuddle him so much he couldn’t think about anything but Piper.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

They are part of a male scout team that routinely befuddles the Bruins women’s basketball players in practices and scrimmages, beating them with stronger bodies, faster moves, higher hops.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2024

It still befuddles me whenever I think of it, but why the heck is bacon packaging so incredibly un-user-friendly?

From Salon ● Jan. 14, 2023

The chief concern is whether hostile countries are fielding aerial technology so advanced and weird that it befuddles and threatens the world’s largest military power.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 4, 2021

“The reason the ‘Latino vote’ befuddles is because it doesn’t exist, nor do ‘Latino issues,’” Isvett Verde, an opinion editor at The New York Times, wrote in an election postmortem.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 5, 2020

Grape-growers are not in the fog that befuddles growers of tree-fruits in regard to tillage.

From Manual of American Grape-Growing by Hedrick, U. P.

Russell’s befuddled Jackson is as useless as a traffic cone but Blunt’s Margaret is a gas before the movie makes her go all glassy-eyed and solemn.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026

Just like on day one, the majority of the world's leading players were again left befuddled and bemused by a punishing course set-up.

From BBC ● May 16, 2026

One zoomer Republican operative in Washington was befuddled at how Butterworth’s had become such a destination: “A bunch of conservatives just decided it would be our place and I don’t understand why.”

From Slate ● Mar. 10, 2026

Yet I feel like a befuddled novice, still grappling with the surprises.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026

The deweys with their magnificent teeth ran out from Number 7 and danced a little jig around the befuddled Shadrack, then cut into a wild aping of his walk, his song and his bell-ringing.

From "Sula" by Toni Morrison

The film — where Jessie Buckley plays three characters, each with their own frenzied personality — may be tonally imbalanced and, at times, utterly befuddling.

From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026

Many of the most befuddling stocks reviewed by Barron’s are holding companies incorporated in the Cayman Islands or the British Virgin Islands with investors or subsidiaries that are also Caribbean holding companies.

From Barron's ● Nov. 18, 2025

But as any shopper will tell you, finding the right one can be befuddling, especially in today’s jargon-cluttered marketplace.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025

After getting outclassed for an hour and trailing 1-0 when by rights it should have been two or three, how did Scotland win this monumentally befuddling World Cup qualifier 3-1?

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2025

It was harder to feel scared of a lump of tea leaves away from the dim red light and befuddling perfume of Professor Trelawney’s classroom.

From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling