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

Bond market terminology was designed less to convey meaning than to bewilder outsiders.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

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

The orchestra gives her the keynote, and then, like a necromancer performing wonders with a coin, she executes a cadenza that bewilders and dazzles the senses.

From Stars of the Opera by Wagnalls, Mabel

Expats and tourists from some of the hottest, muggiest U.S. states are bewildered: How has a lifetime of sweltering heat not prepared them for this?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

It showed a clear timeline of how tensions escalated and the initial bodycam footage which included many people looking upset and bewildered in the moments after the boys crashed.

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026

The Knicks still trailed 90-75 heading into the fourth, but they chipped away against the bewildered Spurs and their determination paid off.

From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026

We’ve all been bewildered kids, Parsons more recently than most.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026

And he’d looked at her, almost bewildered, then said, “It’s a Joe Mauer signed baseball,” as if that was all that needed to be said.

From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu

But the Health and Human Services Secretary’s statements at a House hearing last Thursday were as bewildering as the FDA rejection.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026

Shibley Telhami, a professor of peace and development at the University of Maryland and a fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, says the threat of a blockade was "bewildering and seems self-defeating."

From Barron's ● Apr. 12, 2026

Then there is the bewildering volume of files now available for the conspiracy-minded to peruse in search of clues and secret codes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 7, 2026

There is something intuitively catchy about brain attack, even if it’s also a little bewildering.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2026

The questions whirling in Cal’s head were so bewildering he had trouble picking one out.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck