bewildering

comparative more bewildering · superlative most bewildering

1. Very baffling, confusing, or perplexing, often due to a very large choice being available.

   There was a bewildering collection of curiosities filling the room.

   2 more examples

   —At once bewildering mists around him close, / And cold and hunger are the least of woes; / The Demon of the Snow, with angry roar / Descending, shuts for aye his prison door.

   1791–1792 (published 1793), William Wordsworth, “Descriptive Sketches, Taken during a Pedestrian Tour among the Alps”, in Henry [Hope] Reed, editor, The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Philadelphia, Pa.: Hayes & Zell, […], published 1860, →OCLC, page 33, column 1

   The two young Cratchits laughed tremendously at the idea of Peter's being a man of business; and Peter himself looked thoughtfully at the fire from between his collars, as if he were deliberating what particular investments he should favour when he came into the receipt of that bewildering income.

   1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 98–99

   Synonyms: dizzying, head-scratching, mind-boggling, puzzlesome, baffling, bemusing, befuddling, cattywampus · Antonyms: unbewildering

plural bewilderings

1. gerundgerund of bewilder: bewilderment.

   Can this be the Bird, to man so good, / Our consecrated Robin! / That, after their bewildering, / Did cover with leaves the little children, / So painfully in the wood?

   1806, William Wordsworth, “The Redbreast and the Butterfly”, in Poems, in Two Volumes, volume I, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], published 1807, →OCLC, page 17

   1 more example

   Then the bewilderings of the comings and the goings of the coffins at the large and populous house; these bewilderings came over me. What was it to be dead? What is it to be living?

   1852 July, Herman Melville, “Book VI. Isabel, and the First Part of the Story of Isabel.”, in Pierre: Or, The Ambiguities, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, section V, page 168

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of bewilder