PERPLEX

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does perplex mean? 

• PERPLEX (verb)
  The verb PERPLEX has 2 senses:

1. be a mystery or bewildering to

2. make more complicated

  Familiarity information: PERPLEX used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PERPLEX (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they perplex    ... he / she / it perplexes   
Past simple: perplexed   
Past participle: perplexed   
-ing form: perplexing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be a mystery or bewildering to

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

amaze; baffle; beat; bewilder; dumbfound; flummox; get; gravel; mystify; nonplus; perplex; pose; puzzle; stick; stupefy; vex

Context example:

This question really stuck me

Hypernyms (to "perplex" is one way to...):

bedevil; befuddle; confound; confuse; discombobulate; fox; fuddle; throw (be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "perplex"):

mix up; stump (cause to be perplexed or confounded)

riddle (set a difficult problem or riddle)

elude; escape (be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The bad news will perplex him
The good news will perplex her
The performance is likely to perplex Sue

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make more complicated

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

complicate; perplex

Context example:

There was a new development that complicated the matter

Hypernyms (to "perplex" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "perplex"):

complexify (make complex)

embrangle; snarl; snarl up (make more complicated or confused through entanglements)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

There was another point, which a little perplexed him at present.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He looked about the room, perplexed, alarmed, wondering where he was, until he caught sight of the pile of manuscripts in the corner.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

His nose and tongue still hurt, but he was perplexed by a greater trouble.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Well, I've had a mort of consideration, I do tell you, returned Mr. Peggotty, with a perplexed look which gradually cleared as he went on, concerning of Missis Gummidge.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But I was bewildered, perplexed, and unable to arrange my ideas sufficiently to understand the full extent of his proposition.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Nothing, Mr. Holmes, save that I was so perplexed that I felt I should not be happy until I had seen you and had your advice.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“What did Mr. Weston tell you?”—said Emma, still perplexed.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

“I could see it come! I could see it come!” he exclaimed, passing his fingers through his hair with the same perplexed expression as before.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You puzzle me, Jane: your look and tone of sorrowful audacity perplex and pain me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He coloured, seemed perplexed, looked doubtingly, and, after some hesitation, said,—Perhaps you mean—my brother—you mean Mrs. Mrs. ROBERT Ferrars.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)