Befuddle

//bɪˈfʌdl// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To perplex, confuse (someone). transitive

    "The explanation left him completely befuddled."

  2. 2
    be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly wordnet
  3. 3
    To stupefy (someone), especially with alcohol. transitive

    "[…] to the American and French alcoholics, who drink in order to get drunk and befuddle the brain"

  4. 4
    make stupid with alcohol wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
bedevilconfoundconfuseconfusediscombobulatefuddle

Example

More examples

"In the event that you can't persuade them, befuddle them."

Etymology

From be- + fuddle.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.