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BEWILDERMENT
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Confusion resulting from failure to understand
Synonyms:
bafflement; befuddlement; bemusement; bewilderment; mystification; obfuscation; puzzlement
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("bewilderment" is a kind of...):
confusedness; confusion; disarray; mental confusion; muddiness (a mental state characterized by a lack of clear and orderly thought and behavior)
Derivation:
bewilder (be a mystery or bewildering to)
Context examples:
But Trevelyan and I looked at each other in bewilderment.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The dense mob of ape-men ran about in bewilderment, marveling whence this storm of death was coming or what it might mean.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I had risen up in bed, I bent forward: first surprise, then bewilderment, came over me; and then my blood crept cold through my veins.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Aghast, he dropped the manuscript among the chessmen and stared in bewilderment round the room.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
She was in a fever of tingling mystery, alternately frightened and charmed, and in constant bewilderment.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
It may have been my expression of bewilderment which attracted Nelson’s attention to me, for he suddenly stopped in his quick quarter-deck walk, and looked me up and down with a severe eye.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Then, sitting in Beth's little chair close beside him, Jo told her troubles, the resentful sorrow for her loss, the fruitless efforts that discouraged her, the want of faith that made life look so dark, and all the sad bewilderment which we call despair.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
A twitch brought away the tangled red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The Inspector stared about him in bewilderment.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He ran across a book in the library on the care of the body, and promptly developed a penchant for a cold-water bath every morning, much to the amazement of Jim, and to the bewilderment of Mr. Higginbotham, who was not in sympathy with such high-fangled notions and who seriously debated whether or not he should charge Martin extra for the water.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
