PERPLEX • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Perplex

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/pərplˈɛks/ Listen

verb

Perplex v. t. (past & past part. perplexed; pres. part. perplexing)

To involve; to entangle; to make intricate or complicated, and difficult to be unraveled or understood; as, to perplex one with doubts. "No artful wildness to perplex the scene." "What was thought obscure, perplexed, and too hard for our weak parts, will lie open to the understanding in a fair view."

To embarrass; to puzzle; to distract; to bewilder; to confuse; to trouble with ambiguity, suspense, or anxiety. "Perplexd beyond self-explication." "We are perplexed, but not in despair." "We can distinguish no general truths, or at least shall be apt to perplex the mind."

To plague; to vex; to torment.

Synonyms: To entangle; involve; complicate; embarrass; puzzle; bewilder; confuse; distract. See Embarrass.

adjective

Perplex adj. Intricate; difficult. (Obs.)

See images of 'Perplex'

Etymology of 'Perplex'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Perplex" Quotes from Famous Books

... listening with suspended oar For the low rote of waves upon a shore Changeless as heaven, where never fog-cloud drifts Over its windless wood, nor mirage lifts The steadfast hills; where never birds of doubt Sing to mislead, and every dream dies out, And the dark riddles which perplex us here In the sharp solvent of its light are clear? Thou knowest how vain our quest; how, soon or late, The baffling tides and circles of debate Swept back our bark unto its starting-place, Where, looking forth ...

— The Complete Works of Whittier - The Standard Library Edition with a linked Index • John Greenleaf Whittier

... as to which ending I ought to have given my romance is what has ever since remained to perplex me, and it is what has prevented my ever writing it. Here is material of the best sort lying useless on my hands, which, if I could only make up my mind, might be wrought into a short story as affecting as any that wring our hearts in fiction; and I think I could get something ...

— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... when the question of the Test and the question of the Comprehension became complicated together in a manner which might well perplex an enlightened and honest politician, both questions became complicated with a ...

— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 3 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... when her father spoke. When she returned, she had a demure, secretive expression on her face which made Harry stare at her in bewilderment. All his life Harry Edgham had been helpless and bewildered before womenkind, and now his little daughter was beginning to perplex him. She sat down and took up a piece of fancy-work, and her father continued to glance at her furtively over his paper. Presently he spoke ...

— By the Light of the Soul - A Novel • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... thee, and paint me thus, as I am, to know me; weak, as I am, and in the weeds of this time; only with eyes which seek out labour, and with a faith, not learned, yet jealous of prayer. Do this; so shall thy soul stand before thee always, and perplex ...

— The Mind of the Artist - Thoughts and Sayings of Painters and Sculptors on Their Art • Various

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