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PERPLEXITY
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Trouble or confusion resulting from complexity
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("perplexity" is a kind of...):
confusedness; confusion; disarray; mental confusion; muddiness (a mental state characterized by a lack of clear and orderly thought and behavior)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "perplexity"):
closed book; enigma; mystery; secret (something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained)
maze; snarl; tangle (something jumbled or confused)
dilemma; quandary (state of uncertainty or perplexity especially as requiring a choice between equally unfavorable options)
Derivation:
perplexed (full of difficulty or confusion or bewilderment)
Context examples:
Mrs. Gardiner went away in all the perplexity about Elizabeth and her Derbyshire friend that had attended her from that part of the world.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
The perplexity was strong in her good-natured face.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Then he began slowly to mount the street, pausing every step or two and putting his hand to his brow like a man in mental perplexity.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
At last, with a swallow or two, he spoke, his face still wearing the same expression of extreme perplexity.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Charles, Henrietta, and Captain Wentworth were the three in consultation, and for a little while it was only an interchange of perplexity and terror.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
From what it could arise, and where it would end, were considerations of equal perplexity and alarm.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
"By George!" cried our peer, pulling at his moustache in great perplexity, "I say—what the deuce are we to do with these people?"
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Meg, dear, be prudent, watch over your sisters, consult Hannah, and in any perplexity, go to Mr. Laurence.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
As I writhed about I could see in his eyes that curiosity I had so often noted, that wonder and perplexity, that questing, that everlasting query of his as to what it was all about.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
After a pause of perplexity, some eyes began to be turned towards Fanny, and a voice or two to say, “If Miss Price would be so good as to read the part.”
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
