befuddle means to perplex, confuse (someone).
befuddle is pronounced /bɪˈfʌdl/.
Why “befuddle” is a great word
To thoroughly confuse, perplex, or stupefy, especially through the influence of alcohol. From the English prefix *be-* (thoroughly, about) + *fuddle* (to confuse or stupefy, especially with drink), with the verb 'fuddle' itself being of obscure origin, perhaps from Low German *fuddeln* ('to work in a slovenly manner'); first recorded in use circa 1832. Unlike 'bewilder,' which implies a profound, sensory-overwhelming disorientation, or 'perplex,' which suggests a state of intellectual entanglement, to be befuddled is to be plunged into a muddied, hazy suspension of clarity. It is the bourbon-blurred inability to recall your own address, the fumbling for a thought that slips like a wet bar of soap, the way candlelight smears into halos when the mind has slipped its moorings: a gentle, often self-inflicted drowning of reason's keen edge in warm, agreeable murk.
Etymology
From be- + fuddle.
verb
- To perplex, confuse (someone).e.g.“The explanation left him completely befuddled.”
- To stupefy (someone), especially with alcohol.e.g.“[…] to the American and French alcoholics, who drink in order to get drunk and befuddle the brain” — 1983, Basile Kerblay, Modern Soviet Society, page 290:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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