Befuddle

Definitions: Befuddle

Befuddle

Verb

1. Be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly: "These questions confuse even the experts"; "This question completely threw me"; "This question befuddled even the teacher".

2. Make stupid with alcohol.

Synonyms: Befuddle

Synonyms: bedevil (v), confound (v), confuse (v), discombobulate (v), fox (v), fuddle (v), throw (v). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Drunkenness	Make one drunk; Adjective: inebriate, fuddle, befuddle, fuzzle, get into one's head.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

"Befuddle" is generally used as a lexical verb (base form) -- approximately 80.00% of the time. "Befuddle" is used about 5 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Lexical Verb (base form)	80%	4	175,879
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	20%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	5	N/A

Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "befuddle": befuddle-headed.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "befuddle"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		trullos (bewilder, daze, freak, intoxicate, overwhelm, stultify, stun, stupefy), hutoj (abash, baffle, bewilder, confound, confuse, dash, disarray, discomfit, disconcert, discountenance, disorient, disorientate, distract, floor, flummox, mystify, overwhelm, perplex, pose, puzzle, wilder). (various references)

Arabic		‏خبل (amentia, besot, craze, dementia, derange, distract, fluster, frenzy, infatuate, insanity, lunacy, mad, madden, madness, spare, stagger, stultify, stun, stupefaction, stupefy, tangle, unbalance), ‏أربك (baffle, bamboozle, bemuse, bewilder, bother, buffalo, confound, confuse, demoralize, discompose, disconcert, disorientate, embarrass, embrangle, entangle, floor, fluster, fox, fret, fuddle, gravel, molest, muckrake, mystify, nonplus, obfuscate, overwhelm, perplex, pose, put out, puzzle, ravel, show up, squirm, stop, stumble, stump, vex), ‏شوش (bedevil, blanket, confuse, demoralize, derange, disarrange, dislocate, disorganize, disrupt, disturb, dizzy, embroil, fog, fuddle, garble, gum up, hamper, jam, jumble, mire, mix up, muddle, muddy, obfuscate, obscure, outface, parasite, perplex, perturb, rattle, ravel, scramble, smudge, unhinge, unsettle). (various references)

Bulgarian		обърквам (abash, addle, baffle, bedevil, bewilder, complicate, confound, confuse, discomfit, disconcert, disjoint, dislocate, distract, embarrass, embroil, flatten, flummox, fluster, foil, fuddle, gravel, jumble, maze, mess about, mess around, mess up, muddle, muff, muss, nonplus, obfuscate, overwhelm, perplex, pose, put off, put out, puzzle, sew up, snarl, stonker, throw out, tumble, vex, wilder), опивам (inebriate, intoxicate, make drunk). (various references)

Farsi		مست کردن (Booze, Fuzz, Inebriate, Intoxicate, Lush, Sot, Tipple), گیج کردن (Astonish, Bemuse, Bewilder, Confound, Confuse, Daze, Distract, Fox, Fuzz, Knockdown, Muddle, Perplex, Petrify, Stump, Stun, Stupefy), سرمست کردن . (various references)

French		griser. (various references)

German		berauschen (enrapture, exhilarate, fuddle, inebriate, intoxicate, make euphoric, put in a frenzy). (various references)

Greek		μεθύσκω (take to drink), ζαλίζω (befog, bemuse, bewilder, daze, discomfit, flummox, mystify, stagger, stun, stupefy). (various references)

Hebrew		לשכר (intoxicate, muddle). (various references)

Hungarian		megrészegít (fuddle, to befuddle, to fuddle, to inebriate, to intoxicate), összezavar (disarrange, disarray, disorder, embroil, entangle, mess, mess about, mess up, mix up, muddle, obfuscate, perturb, to addle, to baffle, to ball up, to confound, to confuse, to darken, to disarray, to dislocate, to disorder, to elf, to ensnarl, to entangle, to foul up, to involve, to mess up, to mix up, to muddle up, to muss, to obfuscate, to perturb, to play the devil with sg, to play the very devil with sg, to scramble, to snarl, to unsettle). (various references)

Italian		istupidire (daze, make stupid, numb, stupefy). (various references)

Pig Latin		efuddlebay

Portuguese		estontear (amaze, stun), confundir (addle, astonish, astound, baffle, befog, bewilder, confound, confuse, confusing, confute, daze, dazzle, disarray, disconcert, distracted, dizzy, dumbfound, embarrass, embrasure, embroil, flabbergast, floor, flummox, flurry, fluster, fog, gravel, interfuse, intermingle, jumble, maze, mistake for, mix up, moider, muddle, muddy, Mull, nonplus, obfuscate, obscure, overwhelm, perplex, put out, puzzle, rattle, Ravel, stagger). (various references)

Russian		одурманивать (hocus). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		zbuniti (abash, addle, baffle, bemuse, bepuzzle, bewilder, confound, confuse, discomfit, disconcert, distract, embarrass, faze, maze, nonplus, perplex, perturb, pose, puzzle, rattle, stick, stump). (various references)

Spanish		confundir (abash, baffle, beat, bewilder, confound, confuse, disarrange, discombobulate, dish, distract, embrangle, flummox, fluster, Fox, mistake, mix, mix up, muddle, nonplus, obscure, rattle, throw), aturdir (abash, bemuse, confound, confuse, daze, distract, drug, fluster, fuddle, intoxicate, knock out, muddle, numb, stun, stupefy). (various references)

Swedish		omtöckna. (various references)

Turkish		sarhoş etmek (fluster, inebriate, intoxicate, make drunk, pickle, turn smb.'s head), şaşırtmak (addle, amaze, astonish, astound, baffle, bamboozle, bedevil, befog, bemuse, bewilder, bowl over, confound, confuse, daze, discompose, disconcert, discountenance, dislocate, disorient, disorientate, distract, embarrass, embrangle, flabbergast, floor, flummox, fuddle, give smb. a tumble, gravel, intrigue, jolt, knock back, mislead, moither, mystify, nonplus, obfuscate, perplex, put smb. out of countenance, puzzle, rattle, shock, startle, stick, stun, stupefy, surprise, take aback, wow), aklını karıştırmak (disorientate, distract, gravel). (various references)

Ukranian		п'янити (besot, disguise, slew, sozzle), дурманити (bemuse, besot). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "befuddle": befuddled, befuddlement, befuddlements, befuddles. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Befuddle" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Beaudidlez, beffudled, befunddle, befundle, bfuddled, bufuddled. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "befuddle" (pronounced bufu"dul)
4	-u" d u l	cuddle, huddle, muddle, puddle, Ruddle.
3	-d u l	addle, alkaloidal, antipodal, astraddle, backpedal, beadle, Bedell, bindle, Boodle, bridal, bridle, Brindle, bundle, caboodle, candle, caudal, caudle, Coddle, colloidal, cradle, dawdle, Doodle, dwindle, feudal, fiddle, fondle, genocidal, girdle, handle, homicidal, hurdle, idle, idol, idyll, intermodal, intertidal, kindle, ladle, manhandle, medal, meddle, middle, minoxidil, mishandle, modal, model, mollycoddle, needle, noodle, paddle, panhandle, pedal, peddle, Piddle, poodle, pyramidal, rekindle, remodel, rhizoidal, riddle, Rundle, saddle, sandal, scandal, Seidel, sidle, spindle, straddle, suicidal, supermodel, swindle, tidal, toddle, trundle, twaddle, Tweedle, twiddle, unbundle, vandal, Waddle, Wedel, widdle, Windle, yodel.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "b-d-d-e-e-f-l-u"
	-2 letters: buddle, delude, dueled, eluded, feuded, fuddle, fueled.
	-3 letters: bedel, bleed, blued, deled, elude, feued, flued, lubed.
	-4 letters: bedu, beef, bled, blue, deed, dele, delf, dude, duel, feed, feel, feud, fled, flee, flub, flue, fuel, leud, lube, lude.
	-5 letters: bed, bee, bel, bud, deb, dee, del, dub, dud, due, eel, eld, elf, fed, fee, feu.
	Words containing the letters "b-d-d-e-e-f-l-u"
	+1 letter: befuddled, befuddles.
	+4 letters: befuddlement.
	+5 letters: befuddlements.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.