bewildering
adjUS, UK /bɪˈwɪldəɹɪŋ/
Etymology From bewilder (“to confuse, disorientate, or puzzle someone, especially with many different choices”) + -ing (suffix forming nouns or noun-like words from verbs, denoting the act of doing something, an action, or the embodiment of an action; and forming the present participles of verbs).
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.
- —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:
1 more example
- 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:
- Derived terms
- bewilderingly, bewilderingness, unbewildering
- Related terms
- bewilder, bewilderment