PERPLEX • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • 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.)

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Etymology of 'Perplex'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Perplex" Quotes from Famous Books

... and perplex yourself about the preparation of food: or do you leave that to some one who understands ...

— Alcibiades I • (may be spurious) Plato

... said Bridgenorth, "you may suspend farther inquiry at present, as it doth but fatigue and perplex the memory of ...

— Peveril of the Peak • Sir Walter Scott

... India are often impressed with the presence of the same problems of government there that perplex our own people in the Philippines, and although England has sent her ablest men and applied her most mature wisdom to their solution, they are just as troublesome and unsettled as they ever were, and we will doubtless have a similar experience among our own colonial ...

— Modern India • William Eleroy Curtis

... faith in the future did not pay dividends in a present income on which to set up house. A widow, considering her daughter's future, might well feel a little anxiety. But one can see wheels within wheels of family conclaves and matters to perplex the simple which drew another ...

— Gilbert Keith Chesterton • Maisie Ward

... Prayer-book are excellent in their way, but the school is no place for them. We have a very complete and extensive organisation of churches in the land, and an army of officials ordained to teach doctrines and tenets: let them take up the inculcation of creeds and rites, but don't let us perplex the school children with catechisms and metaphysical definitions. It is easy to make a distinction between morality and doctrine—a distinction which is alike clear and reasonable. Morality is an earthly ...

— Literary Tours in The Highlands and Islands of Scotland • Daniel Turner Holmes

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