Words meaning 'confused'

By- Kate Woodford 
(Dictionaryblog.cambridge.org)

From time to time, we all find ourselves unable to understand things, whether it’s instructions for a piece of equipment that confuse us, an event or situation that we can’t explain or just a comment by a friend. Life is sometimes just confusing! This is reflected in the number of near-synonyms and phrases that describe being confused and things that confuse us. This week we thought we would take a look at them.
Let’s start with some common near-synonyms for ‘confused’. Perplexed is one:
Her speech left some of the audience looking
perplexed. Puzzled is another. Like perplexed, it means ‘confused because you do not understand something’: He had a puzzled look on his face. / I’m a bit puzzled as to why she did that. The adjectives
perplexing and puzzling are used too, describing things that we do not understand: I find their attitude quite perplexing. / In some ways, it’s a puzzling novel.
The word baffled is somewhat stronger, describing how we feel when we are completely unable to understand or explain something, and often surprised by it too:
Drivers were left baffled in Lancashire after seeing a mountain of apples at the roadside. The –ing adjective baffling is used too to describe the thing that you are unable to understand: Why would anyone do such a strange thing? It’s baffling, isn’t it?
Bewildered is another near-synonym of ‘confused’ but this time with the additional meaning of ‘not knowing what to do’:
Elderly patients, looking bewildered, try to catch the doctor’s attention. The adjective
bewildering is also used, sometimes before nouns such as ‘range’ and ‘array’ (= large group of things). A ‘bewildering range’ or ‘array’ is a group of things so large that you do not know which to choose: I had before me a bewildering array of options.
Two other ‘confused’ adjectives with additional meanings are dazed and
disoriented . Someone who is dazed is unable to think clearly because they are extremely tired or shocked after an accident or bad news, etc.: He had a dazed expression and was unresponsive.
Disoriented, meanwhile, means ‘confused about where you are and where you are going’: Whales can become disoriented in shallow water.
Turning now to phrases in this area, if something that is said or written doesn’t
make sense, it cannot be understood: This line doesn’t make any sense. If you can’t
make sense of something confusing, you can’t understand it: I’ve read the instructions three times and I still can’t make sense of them! If you are at a loss to do something, you are completely confused and do not know what to do or say: I’m at a loss to explain what has happened. Finally, if you are at sea or all at sea , you are confused and do not know what to do: No one has explained the new system to me and I’m all at sea.

We hope you found our post helpful – and not in the least perplexing!

By- Kate Woodford 
(Dictionaryblog.cambridge.org)