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

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

Before grandmother can visit, she is expected to be able to speak to her granddaughter in English — a request that bewilders and aggrieves her, but one that she cannot refuse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2024

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

It was the noise that bewilders wood-cutters, and gipsies sleeping in the open, and makes them run sometimes into the very mouth of the tiger.

From The jungle book by Kipling, Rudyard

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

Hoppy Haden, the county’s judge, said he was bewildered by their new-city proposal at first.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026

Figo looked dazed and bewildered at his unveiling but showed his class once he hit the Bernabeu turf.

From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026

Through the small window, Henry watched the bewildered family standing by their bundles in the snow.

From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

So how can Labour escape this new bewildering world of pain?

From BBC ● May 9, 2026

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

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2026

Here, already, he moves to isolate Catiline from “everyone”— “the people, ” “allgood men, ” “this venerable body”—and to present his arrogance as so contrary to common sense as to be bewildering and unnatural.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith