perplex

verb
/pɚˈplɛks/US/pəˈplɛks/UK

Etymology

From Old French, from Latin perplexus (“entangled, confused”), from per (“through”) + plexus, perfect passive participle of plectō (“plait, weave, braid”).

  1. derived from perplexus — “entangled, confused

Definitions

  1. To cause to feel baffled

    To cause to feel baffled; to puzzle.

  2. To involve

    To involve; to entangle; to make intricate or complicated.

    • What was thought obscure, perplexed, and too hard for our weak parts, will lie open to the understanding in a fair view.
    • The Ways of Heav’n are dark and intricate, Puzzled in Mazes, and perplext with Errors; Our Underſtanding traces ’em in vain, Loſt and bewilder’d in the fruitleſs Search; […]
  3. To plague

    To plague; to vex; to torment.

    • Chloe's the wonder of her sex, 'Tis well her heart is tender, How might such killing eyes perplex, With virtue to defend her.
    • All night no ruder air perplex ⁠Thy sliding keel, till Phosphor, bright ⁠As our pure love, thro’ early light Shall glimmer on the dewy decks.
  4. + 2 more definitions
    1. intricate

      intricate; difficult

      • How the soul directs the spirits for the motion of the body, according to the several animal exigents, is as perplex in the Theory, as either of the former.
      • Finally, I explore possible audience interpretations of the film and offer some alternative reading strategies of these highly perplex sketches.
    2. A difficulty.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at perplex. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01perplex02puzzle03confused04disoriented05disorientated06disorientate07disorient08confuse

A definitional loop anchored at perplex. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at perplex

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA