Bemuse

verb, slang

verb, slang ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To confuse or bewilder. transitive

    "[With] fairy tales bemused the shepherd lies."

  2. 2
    cause to be confused emotionally wordnet
  3. 3
    To be amused, especially sardonically. proscribed, sometimes, transitive
  4. 4
    To devote to the Muses. archaic, humorous

    "When those incorrigible things, Poets, are once irrecoverably Be-mus'd"

  5. 5
    To make drunk; to intoxicate. obsolete, slang, transitive

    "a parson much be-mus'd in beer"

Synonyms

All synonyms
addlebafflebaffoundbedevilbefuddlebefuddle

Example

More examples

"[With] fairy tales bemused the shepherd lies."

Etymology

From be- + muse. In meaning, influenced by bemaze and later amuse.

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