Standard Lemma guide

bewildering

adj · noun · verb · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /bɪˈwɪldəɹɪŋ/
  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /bɪˈwɪldɹɪŋ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: B IH0 W IH1 L D ER0 IH0 NG Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Very baffling, confusing, or perplexing, often due to a very large choice being available.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • There was a bewildering collection of curiosities filling the room.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dizzying, head-scratching, mind-boggling, puzzlesome, baffling, bemusing, befuddling, bewildering, cattywampus, clear as mud, confounding, confusing, confuzzling, complicated, disordered, flabbergasting, incomprehensible, inexplicable, insensible, jumbled, mystifying, nonplussing, perplexing, puzzling, unintelligible, uninterpretable, vague

Antonyms: unbewildering

2

noun

Meaning 2

gerund of bewilder: bewilderment.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, gerund

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

present participle and gerund of bewilder

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, gerund, participle, present

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From bewilder (“to confuse, disorientate, or puzzle someone, especially with many different choices”) + -ing (suffix forming nouns or noun-like words from verbs, denoting the act of doing something, an action, or the embodiment of an action; and forming the present participles of verbs).

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 迷人 (mírén) — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 撲朔迷離 /扑朔迷离 (pūshuòmílí) — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Czech: matoucí — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Dutch: duizelingwekkend — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Dutch: verbijsterend — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Dutch: verbluffend — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Dutch: verwarrend — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Esperanto: konfuzanta — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Finnish: häkellyttävä — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Finnish: tyrmistyttävä — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • French: abasourdissant — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • German: befremdlich — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • German: irreführend — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • German: irremachend — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • German: irritierend — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • German: konfus machend — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • German: verblüffend — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • German: verwirrend — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Ancient Greek: ᾰ̓́σκοπος (ắskopos) — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Ancient Greek: μαυρός (maurós) — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Italian: sconcertante — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Macedonian: избезумувачки (izbezumuvački) — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Polish: zdumiewający — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Polish: oszałamiający — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Polish: zadziwiający — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Sanskrit: मोहन (mohana) — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Spanish: desconcertante — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Sranan Tongo: drai-ede — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Sranan Tongo: bruya — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Turkish: hayret verici — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Turkish: şaşırtıcı — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing
  • Turkish: sersemletici — very baffling, confusing, or perplexing