befuddle

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

Even in the sunlight, the shadows and glare can befuddle landing cameras and sensors.

From National Geographic ● Jan. 8, 2024

Bear's journey home takes a detour partly guided by Goldtooth's spirit, whose main purpose is to frustrate and befuddle those unlucky enough to see him.

From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2023

The idea, then, that Big Bird no longer wants to be called Big Bird but instead wants to be called Roy is almost guaranteed to befuddle a preschooler.

From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell

He has constructed a glossy fever dream that bewitches as much as it befuddles.

From Salon ● May 20, 2022

“Something better” is a mind-set that befuddles many first-time buyers.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2022

Much of what befuddles in “The Green Knight” is of the “What did I just see?” variety.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2021

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

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

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

“There’s a beetle that emerges on the cusp of summer. It has lots of colors. Blue, gold, purple. It looks like a turtle,” she tells a befuddled Rhaenyra.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026

With a voice at times bitter, befuddled and bemused at his own wrecked life, Busby emerges as a self-aware, sympathetic survivor who knew his best work came at the beginning.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

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

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

“Just what is going on?” the poor, honest abbot demanded, utterly befuddled now.

From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz

The office of Armstrong, who said he never met Hsieh and yet was named a co-executor for Hsieh’s estate in the surprise will, received another befuddling document: a death certificate of Singh’s grandfather.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

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

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

He cocked his head, tapping his lower lip as though he found the concept absolutely befuddling.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros