baffling
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
- bafflingly adverb
Explanation
If something is baffling, it's completely confusing or mysterious. You might find your friend's hatred for the taste of chocolate utterly baffling. A good mystery novel begins with a baffling crime — one that seems at first nearly impossible to solve. You might also find your math homework baffling or wander around the baffling snarl of streets in a city with no idea where you are. The earliest meaning of baffling was nautical, describing winds blowing in all directions. It comes from the verb baffle, which first meant "to disgrace" before it came to mean "to confuse."
Vocabulary lists containing baffling
This Week in Words: January 27 - February 2, 2018
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Manchester United were left furious about "astonishing" and "baffling" refereeing decisions as two penalties were awarded and one was not in their thrilling 2-2 draw at Bournemouth.
From BBC • Mar. 20, 2026
Why an Oscar-winning screenwriter would make a film that makes so little attempt to dig into its central character is baffling.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
It’s baffling, to say the least, that Gabbard did not recuse herself from this matter.
From Salon • Mar. 5, 2026
To Gilbert Arenas, the former NBA star and podcast host whose son Alijah is a freshman guard with the Trojans, the move was particularly baffling.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2026
She was one of them, really, blithe and girlish in her manner and her tastes—video games, Harry Potter, the baffling pop music they listened to.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
