befuddled

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befuddled

1. simple past and past participle of befuddle

befuddled (comparative more befuddled, superlative most befuddled)

1. Confused or perplexed.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:confused

   • 1910, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “A Blackjack Bargainer”, in Whirligigs‎^[1]:

     But Yancey Goree was not thinking of feuds. His befuddled brain was hopelessly attacking the problem of the future maintenance of himself and his favourite follies.

   • 1919, Christopher Morley, The Haunted Bookshop‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, →OCLC:

     Gracious, man, are you so befuddled in your old books that you don't see what's going on round you?

   • 2023 October 18, Murtada Elfadl, “Killers Of The Flower Moon review: Martin Scorsese's uniquely American tragedy”, in AV Club‎^[3]:

     Rather smartly, DiCaprio chooses a character he hasn’t played before; a befuddled and dumb man who keeps getting himself in trouble.

   • 2025 June 25, Ismail Muhammad, “Why Does Every Commercial for A.I. Think You’re a Moron?”, in The New York Times Magazine‎^[4], →ISSN, archived from the original on 25 June 2025:

     In my favorite Meta A.I. ad, a woman tells her boyfriend that she’s excited to have him meet her parents — before impishly mentioning that her father is a thermodynamicist at NASA. The befuddled boyfriend rushes home, phone in hand. “Hey Meta,” he asks. “What the heck is a thermodynamicist?”

2. Drunk

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:drunk

   • 1905–1906, Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Nigel, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], published January 1906, →OCLC:

     His head rested upon his two hands, as if he were befuddled with wine, but at the harsh sound of the snapping bolts he raised his face and looked angrily around him.