baffled

American

[baf-uhld] / ˈbæf əld /

adjective

bewildered or perplexed; puzzled.

I went to bed shaking my head, completely baffled and amazed at the strange turn the day had taken.
equipped with one or more baffles, or structures to obstruct the movement of fluids, sound, etc..

Any spraying operations shall be done within a baffled or enclosed area of the solvent cleaning machine.
thwarted.

“Every anarchist is a baffled dictator,” wrote Mussolini.

verb

the simple past tense and past participle of anticipate.

Other Word Forms

unbaffled adjective

Etymology

Origin of baffled

baffle ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

When you're baffled, you're confused or perplexed. Being baffled is being befuddled, bewildered, confounded, or mixed up. If you're baffled, you can't understand something. Some people are baffled by math; others are baffled by things celebrities do. Some are baffled at why anyone would care what celebrities do. Sometimes when you're baffled, you genuinely can't figure something out, and other times, you just disapprove. For example, a teacher could say, "I'm baffled that you missed the test!" As long as the world is full of odd things, we'll all spend part of our lives baffled.

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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.

A flurry of powerful attacks had internet experts baffled.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026

Sitting in his dorm room at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Benjamin Brundage was closing in on a mystery that had even seasoned internet investigators baffled.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

On Sunday, Roan responded on Instagram, seemingly baffled by the swirling controversy.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

Xavi Simons' relegation to the bench baffled seasoned Spurs viewers, following his best performance and two goals in Wednesday's win over Atletico.

From BBC • Mar. 22, 2026

She just seemed lost afterward, peering around in a baffled way.

From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023