baffling


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Related to baffling: bafflingly

baf·fle

 (băf′əl)
tr.v. baf·fled, baf·fling, baf·fles
1. To confuse or perplex, especially so as to frustrate or prevent from taking action: a patient whose condition baffled the physicians.
2. To impede the force or movement of (a fluid).
n.
1. A usually static device that regulates the flow of a fluid or light.
2. A partition that prevents interference between sound waves in a loudspeaker.

[Perhaps blend of Scottish Gaelic bauchle, to denounce, revile publicly, and French bafouer, to ridicule.]

baf′fle·ment n.
baf′fler n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

baffling

(ˈbæflɪŋ)
adj
impossible to understand; perplexing; bewildering; puzzling
ˈbafflingly adv
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.baffling - making great mental demandsbaffling - making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe; "a baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at home"
difficult, hard - not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure; "a difficult task"; "nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access"; "difficult times"; "why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

baffling

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations
مُحيّـر ، مُربك
záhadný
forbløffendeuforståelig
elképesztõ
óskiljanlegur
afallatıcışaşırtıcı

baffling

[ˈbæflɪŋ] ADJ [action] → incomprensible, desconcertante; [crime] → misterioso; [problem] → dificilísimo
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

baffling

[ˈbæflɪŋ] adj (= bewildering) → déroutant(e) (= puzzling) → troublant(e)
His decision to remain in Germany was baffling to his scientific friends and colleagues abroad
BUT Sa décision de rester en Allemagne rendait perplexes ses amis et ses collègues à l'étranger.
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

baffling

adj caserätselhaft; complexityverwirrend; mysteryunergründlich; questionverblüffend; I find it bafflinges ist mir ein Rätsel
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

baffling

[ˈbæflɪŋ] adjsconcertante
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

baffle

(ˈbӕfl) verb
to puzzle (a person). I was baffled by her attitude towards her husband.
baffling adjective
a baffling crime.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
Let us make a foray upon the dominions of that noisy barbarian, a great raid from Finisterre to Hatteras, catching his fishermen unawares, baffling the fleets that trust to his power, and shooting sly arrows into the livers of men who court his good graces.
The boats, and trains, and cows and horses were quite meaningless to him, but not quite so baffling as the odd little figures which appeared beneath and between the colored pictures--some strange kind of bug he thought they might be, for many of them had legs though nowhere could he find one with eyes and a mouth.
With him the problems are all soluble by the enlightened and regenerate will; there is no baffling Fate, but a helping God.
In the stress of privation and the need of effort I might sometimes forget the somber secret ever baffling the conjecture that it compels.
All these baffling head-reaches after immortality are but the panics of souls frightened by the fear of death, and cursed with the thrice-cursed gift of imagination.
It was not at all bad, was his summing up, though there was much about it that was baffling. There was that liking him the more she knew him and at the same time wanting to marry him less.
No matter how baffling she was, there was no nonsensical silliness about her.