bewilder

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

Essential to a wilderness is its capacity to bewilder, and though certain of Church’s colleagues in the Hudson River group, notably Worthington Whittredge, brilliantly captured this dense, enfolding quality, Church seldom did.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 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

Thanksgiving is a time for making people happy, not for persuading them to drink avant-garde styles that you love but that may bewilder mainstream drinkers.

From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2021

This was one more thing to bewilder everyone, especially the horseman.

From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios

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

One sad thought bewilders my slumbers, From eve till the coming of dawn: I cry out in visions, "Where are they?"

From Caxton's Book: A Collection of Essays, Poems, Tales, and Sketches. by W. H. (William Henry) Rhodes

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

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026

“As if I had to go to the back of the line and wait my turn,” Mr. Guimarães says, bewildered.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Birds and other animals, bewildered by unforeseen night, start behaving strangely.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

At first, I was pleasantly surprised, if a little bewildered because of who they came from.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026

I spend most of the drive home looking bewildered, because Courtney glances over at me every few minutes like he's not sure he did the right thing by exposing me to Carl’s Closet.

From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone

“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

At one point, amid the bewildering turmoil, one of the Politburo members simply shakes his head and says: “I’ve had nightmares that made more sense than this.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

In the real world there is a bewildering array of outcomes to any action, which requires a more flexible type of artificial intelligence.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

For audiences reared on the regular, predictable patterns of Haydn and Mozart, the Eroica’s many noisy surprises would have been both titillating and bewildering.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall