bewildered

1 of 2

adjective

be·wil·dered bi-ˈwil-dərd

bē-

Synonyms of bewildered

: deeply or utterly confused or perplexed

I was appalled and was too bewildered to do or say anything.—Bram Stoker

He looked at her with a bewildered expression.

Speaking for myself, I stumbled into motherhood and was bewildered at the shift of gears, the volte-face required to reorient myself, my values and my way of life into being a carer of small children.—Madeleine Bunting

bewildered

2 of 2

past tense and past participle of bewilder

Examples of bewildered in a Sentence

Adjective the bewildered child wandered aimlessly around the playground

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Adjective

They were soon surrounded by a crowd of about 1,000 bewildered villagers, who alerted forest officials patrolling nearby. — Rhea Mogul, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2026 What appears before the bewildered trio is a boy with a face resembling a frog’s, named Fūsuke. — Jennifer Maas, Variety, 10 Oct. 2026 But Iñárritu’s caricatures become people in a way Kubrick’s don’t; as the bewildered President, for example, John Goodman is simultaneously grounded and theatrical in his presentation, recalling his best work with the Coen brothers. — Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 30 Sep. 2026 Five o’clock Saturday, the Riverside Stadium and Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg is fist-pumping a half-bewildered but fully enthused home crowd. — Michael Walker, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for bewildered

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1760, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of bewildered was in 1760

See more words from the same year

Browse Nearby Words

bewilder

bewildered

bewilderedly

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Bewildered.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bewildered. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

bewildered

adjective

Synonyms of bewildered

Examples of bewildered in a Sentence

Word History

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

vocation

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

Popular in Wordplay

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Games & Quizzes