–Why do you wish to marry him? he persisted. She picked little strips of wood from the box, smiling in her perplexedness. He is my husband, she said, with the word that does not quite mean husband.
Source: wiktionary
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Keep "perplexedness" when the sentence already sounds natural, when a synonym would add unintended emphasis, or when readers need the most familiar wording. A synonym should clarify or sharpen the message, not simply make the sentence look more varied.
If two options seem close, choose the one that best matches the audience and purpose of the sentence.
Choose a synonym only if it keeps the core idea of "perplexedness" intact in the sentence you are editing.
Check whether the replacement sounds more formal, casual, emotional, technical, or forceful than the original word.
Read the full sentence after the swap. Keep the synonym only when the sentence becomes clearer or more precise.
Review note: Synonym lists are ranked with lexical data and reviewed for practical writing value. Use the comparison notes, sentence evidence, and source labels together; a high-ranking synonym can still be wrong when the audience, register, or grammar changes.
After choosing a replacement for "perplexedness", read the sentence once for meaning and once for rhythm. The best synonym should feel natural in the full sentence, not only accurate in a word list.
If the synonym makes the sentence slower, vaguer, or more dramatic than intended, keep "perplexedness" or choose a simpler alternative from the closest-match group.
2 total sentences available.
–Why do you wish to marry him? he persisted. She picked little strips of wood from the box, smiling in her perplexedness. He is my husband, she said, with the word that does not quite mean husband.
Source: wiktionary
1689, John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, London: Awnsham & John Churchil, 4th edition, 1700, Book 4, Chapter 8, Section 11, p. 317, […] most Writers are so far from instructing us in the Nature and Knowledge of Things, that they use their Words loosly and uncertainly, and do not, by using them constantly and steadily in the same signification, make plain and clear deductions of Words one from another, and make their Discourses coherent and clear, (how little soever it were instructive), which were not difficult to do, did they not find it convenient to shelter their Ignorance or Obstinacy, under the Obscurity and perplexedness of their Terms […]
Source: wiktionary
Closest matches include perplexity.
Compare the replacement against real sentence context. This entry includes sample sentences so you can check tone, grammar, and meaning before swapping words.