bewilder

He describes Pacific Northwest forests—which logging has depopulated of their natural stock and repopulated with rows and rows of identical trees—as having a “hall-of-mirrors effect” that can bewilder hikers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

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

If the soul of Leif Erikson were to materialize inside his statue for a day, much of what he saw would bewilder him.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 13, 2023

Modern songwriting is highly collaborative in a way that seems to bewilder some folks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2022

Actually, it’s far, far worse than that because AT maps—for reasons that bewilder me beyond speculation—provide less detail than even their meager scale allows.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

The variety of goals that the Japanese striker scores is astonishing, but all of them have one thing in common - speed of thought that bewilders the unfortunates tasked with the job of marking him.

From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2023

Basra continually bewilders experts, envoys and residents: How can a relatively stable province so rich in resources rank among the poorest and most under-developed in the country?

From Washington Times ● Mar. 24, 2023

Basra continually bewilders experts, envoys and residents: How can a relatively stable province so rich in resources rank among the poorest and most underdeveloped in the country?

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 23, 2023

In Herman Melville’s 1853 short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” a Wall Street clerk bewilders his manager by politely refusing to do basic tasks, including leaving the office.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2022

Our needless tangle of furnishing bewilders those who still think the flowers that grow of themselves in the Irish thatch more beautiful than anything under the cover of our prosaic shingled roofs.

From Strangers and Wayfarers by Sarah Orne Jewett

Since the entire brand of America’s foremost tastemaker is to discern the good things from tackiness, the debacle has bewildered longtime fans.

From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026

"I was just bewildered really that the medical and safeguarding issues were completely lost," she said.

From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026

Mejia and Rector spoke to some of the accused immigrants and their families swept up by “Operation Protect the Vote,” who were bewildered as to what they had done wrong and why the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

Other times, I was interviewing believers and, more often, their bewildered loved ones.

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026

Then I watched as planes sank into them, and I stared, bewildered, at the TV as the unimaginably tall structures swayed, then buckled.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

Although there weren’t many of them numerically, the errors that the A.I. did make were confusing and bewildering enough to be disqualifying.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

“Asmodeus” is a bewildering incantation about the coupling of poetry and squalor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

One of the more bewildering primary results of the year came this week in Michigan’s 8th Congressional District, a swing seat currently represented by Democratic freshman Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet.

From Slate ● Aug. 8, 2026

While border officials contact authorities nationwide to verify the identity of those who don't have any form of ID, the process for newly arrived Afghans can be bewildering.

From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026

Here, people whisper, the Germans have renovated two kilometers of subterranean corridors under the medieval walls; they have built new defenses, new conduits, new escape routes, underground complexes of bewildering intricacy.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr