baffling
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
Explanation
If something is baffling, it's completely confusing or mysterious. You might find your friend's hatred for the taste of chocolate utterly baffling. A good mystery novel begins with a baffling crime — one that seems at first nearly impossible to solve. You might also find your math homework baffling or wander around the baffling snarl of streets in a city with no idea where you are. The earliest meaning of baffling was nautical, describing winds blowing in all directions. It comes from the verb baffle, which first meant "to disgrace" before it came to mean "to confuse."
Vocabulary lists containing baffling
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“To me he’s had the greatest career of any NBA player … for him to do it again and answer the bell again, it’s … baffling in some ways.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 2, 2026
When Leath was charged with the murders of her two husbands a decade later, the confrontation with Walker made news again, but amounted to a baffling and salacious sideshow, its significance unclear.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026
Lucas Digne's baffling decision to raise his arms and handle the ball as Omari Hutchinson tried to keep it in play gave Wood his chance with 19 minutes left.
From BBC • Apr. 30, 2026
They have stumbled their way through the last nine years with cronyism, poor drafting, inexplicable trades and player contracts that are absolutely baffling.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 25, 2026
After that, we reach the most baffling chapter in Elizebeth’s working life.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
