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perplex
in a sentence

show 188 more with this conextual meaning
  • (perplexed) Why? What did I say?   (source)
  • Thorolf looked at Christopher, perplexed.   (source)
  • And while he was waiting he looked at the counsellors who stood behind the chief, and he saw too that they were frowning and perplexed, and that for this matter there was no counsel that they could give at all.   (source)
    perplexed = baffled (confused--not knowing what to do)
  • (More perplexed than ever)   (source)
    perplexed = confused or puzzled
  • When I woke in the morning, I was hungry, but I did not think first of my hunger for my heart was perplexed and confused.   (source)
    perplexed = confused
  • He seemed to find this case very perplexing,   (source)
    perplexing = confusing due to complexity
  • I was in deep perplexity, because I knew that the teacher would demand of me at least two names, and I had only one.   (source)
    perplexity = confusion
  • In the daytime it is tiresome and perplexing.   (source)
    perplexing = confusing due to complexity
  • My parents were deeply grieved and perplexed.   (source)
    perplexed = confused or puzzled
  • He scratched his head with a perplexed air,   (source)
  • The thing perplexes me altogether.   (source)
    perplexes = confuses
  • they were perplexing to reflect upon,--insoluble mysteries both.   (source)
    perplexing = confusing
  • exclaimed Alice, looking about in great perplexity, as first one round head, and then the other, rolled down from her shoulder, and lay like a heavy lump in her lap.   (source)
    perplexity = confusion due to complexity
  • She picked me up an hour later and I watched, perplexed, as she drove right past the hospital a few blocks from my apartment.†   (source)
  • Mom stared at the ceiling, miming perplexed thought.†   (source)
  • "He looks like he wants you to grab hold…." said Ron, looking perplexed.†   (source)
  • Why would any son cause his parents and family such permanent and perplexing pain?†   (source)
  • He moved the typed page closer to his good eye, then farther away, with a perplexed stare, as if it was a bill for something he hadn't ordered.†   (source)
  • He chuckles and stuffs the roll in Kitty's open, perplexed mouth.†   (source)
  • "How does someone tracking my online shopping affect security?" asked Susie, perplexed.†   (source)
  • The fellow looked perplexed at the Count's question, having assumed that it was his position to be of service to someone else.†   (source)
  • The guard looks perplexed.†   (source)
  • He trailed off, a perplexed look wrinkling his eyebrows.†   (source)
  • Mother gazed at me a little longer, with an expression that was both tender and perplexed.†   (source)
  • Langdon looked truly perplexed.†   (source)
  • He gave me a slightly perplexed look and nodded.†   (source)
  • He looked at me closely and was clearly perplexed.†   (source)
  • She kissed him gently and he was too perplexed, too utterly wrong-footed, to know what to do.†   (source)
  • But those had been open-fisted, more pats than punches, self-consciously friendly, comfortable expressions of anxieties that were both perplexing and thrilling.†   (source)
  • The girl, frightened and perplexed, could hardly muster a shake of the head.†   (source)
  • She was perplexed by a seemingly small detail in the rush of events that happened that night.†   (source)
  • Perplexity came to her from the beast.†   (source)
  • For a moment Dr. Cruz looked perplexed; then he smiled.†   (source)
  • Rose flashed me a look, perplexity mixed with vindication.†   (source)
  • I walked, perplexed, in my soaked clothes under the sun.†   (source)
  • For example, Dr. Dolder—dolt though he was—would have heard at least a little of the GOD'S INSTRUMENT theme; even Dr. Dolder would have uncovered Owen's perplexing and troubling anti-Catholicism.†   (source)
  • Phineas looked perplexed.†   (source)
  • "What does it all mean?" asked Mr. Kiaga, who was greatly perplexed.†   (source)
  • He wore a mask similar to Alice's in simplicity, although not as perplexing to guests.†   (source)
  • But to hear these Silvers discuss them so, with such disdain, is perplexing.†   (source)
  • William looked down at her, perplexed.†   (source)
  • At first Ashoke is more perplexed than moved, by the point-Mess of the head, the puffiness of the lids, the small white spots on the cheeks, the fleshy upper lip that droops prominently over the lower one.†   (source)
  • When the echo of his words had died away, the Knight of Flowers seemed perplexed.†   (source)
  • Kai froze with a look of mild perplexity, and Cinder thought with a jolt that she'd succeeded—had she just used her Lunar gift?†   (source)
  • He was looking back at me, so I frowned and looked perplexed and said, "I think he has a fever as well as broken ribs, sir."†   (source)
  • "Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "our next act is another unique and perplexing one.†   (source)
  • ELIZABETH, perplexed, looking at the doll: Why, thank you, it's a fair poppet.†   (source)
  • She probably meant something like "It is certainly perplexing."†   (source)
  • For a perplexed moment I thought she was talking to me, but when I looked back she was turned toward my father.†   (source)
  • Shouts and wailing came from a perplexing number of directions.†   (source)
  • When she seemed to run out of words, I shook my head, perplexed.†   (source)
  • My father exchanged a perplexed glance with Ashley.†   (source)
  • Murtagh seemed perplexed by Eragon's wrath.†   (source)
  • Perplexed to the point of bursting, I took the question to my elder siblings.†   (source)
  • I've always been a little perplexed by the next verse, 'And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes.'†   (source)
  • It was perplexing.†   (source)
  • Charlie was perplexed.†   (source)
  • This jigsaw puzzle was even more perplexing: the box came locked.†   (source)
  • Dr. Rayner too was perplexed, according to Olmsted.†   (source)
  • Irony—sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, sometimes wry or perplexing—provides additional richness to the literary dish.†   (source)
  • He smiled sympathetically at Mae, but with a raised eyebrow, as if there was something about Mae that was perplexing him, something he couldn't put his finger on.†   (source)
  • And most perplexing: Tell me your earrings.†   (source)
  • "From someone who's been here," she finished simply, not understanding my perplexity.†   (source)
  • Sent psychologists out to these people's houses, gave them a free TV set to submit to an anonymous interview, hooked them to polygraphs, studied their brain waves as they showed them choppy, inexplicable movies of porn queens and late-night car crashes and Sammy Davis, Jr., put them in sweet-smelling, mauve-walled rooms and asked them questions about Ethics so perplexing that even a Jesuit couldn't respond without committing a venial sin.†   (source)
  • 'It'll be all right,' she said, and her face now had that slack, unplugged look , that look of perplexed vacuity , and before his mind was completely consumed in a forest fire of panic he understood that when this was over, she would have only the vaguest memories of what she had done, as she had only the vaguest memories of killing the children and the old people and the terminal patients and Andrew Pomeroy.†   (source)
  • He looked genuinely perplexed.†   (source)
  • I want to escape from Chava's tired, perplexed and tattered face, to run away from how something so beautiful, in its own way, can become so odious.†   (source)
  • Mr. Ellerby looks perplexed and turns immediately toMautz.†   (source)
  • Clary looked at her, perplexed.†   (source)
  • Their conversation must have been sufficiently perplexing to warrant an early visit.†   (source)
  • Fermina Daza was perplexed and wanted to know why.†   (source)
  • And when I eventually did decide to do something, such as packing a suitcase, I only dragged all my grubby, expensive clothes out of the bureau and the closet and spread them on the chairs and the bed and the floor and then sat and stared at them, utterly perplexed.†   (source)
  • She had, as was by then usual for her, been wearing her black robe, closed to her neck, and he had, as was by then usual for him, been wearing a size-too-small white T-shirt, pinned to his lean chest and stomach, and she had watched him and he had circled her, and they had gone to his place that night, and she had shuffled off the weight of her virginity with some perplexity but not excessive fuss.†   (source)
  • The yellow taxicabs that go sweeping past, honking their horns; the women with their briefcases, who look so perplexed to see a little old Japanese woman standing on the street corner in kimono.†   (source)
  • And felt the sharpest edge of what might have been hysteria dulling into perplexity.†   (source)
  • That perplexed Dede.†   (source)
  • But the tension of the elders—their expectation, which weighted like a thick blanket over the crowd—was the most perplexing of all.†   (source)
  • Blomkvist looked at his watch and said, "One perplexing detail."†   (source)
  • A cycle has been completed, all disturbances have been resolved, perplexities have been concealed, and things have returned to their original state.†   (source)
  • And he sounded genuinely perplexed, as though it were a difficult decision.†   (source)
  • Ch'idzigyaak was perplexed by her friend.†   (source)
  • He vanishes beneath the edge of the table, his eyes perplexed, his mouth still open.†   (source)
  • Norah nodded, still perplexed, increasingly unnerved.†   (source)
  • The rabbits were perplexed.†   (source)
  • She turned to him fleetingly a countenance of appeal and perplexity.†   (source)
  • I looked at him, disgusted and perplexed.†   (source)
  • We were quite perplexed and not unworried.†   (source)
  • I looked at the comb in my hand as if perplexed.†   (source)
  • The New Jersey Commander Eaton was perplexed.†   (source)
  • Brother Prior looked completely perplexed.†   (source)
  • The whole business was perplexing, but he couldn't just stand around and wonder about it.†   (source)
  • They will be perplexed that we shrugged as a lack of investment in maternal health caused half a million women to perish in childbirth each year.†   (source)
  • We keep last night's promise alive through furtive glances and little asides spoken in code that perplex our teachers and make us all smile.†   (source)
  • She gazed at him, obviously perplexed.†   (source)
  • He stood there a long time in his costume, lab coat and stethoscope, no longer looking like a mad scientist but like one who was deeply perplexed about something, or lost.†   (source)
  • Charles and I were perplexed: nobody was talking about why we were there at all!†   (source)
  • CHAPTER 2 THE WRONG SIDE OF THE RIVER Why ponder thus the future to foresee, and jade thy brain to vain perplexity?†   (source)
  • "You put his patterns in chronological order?" my mother asks, perplexed.†   (source)
  • Some struggled with knives and forks the size of axes and shovels, some stared at their meal in perplexity.†   (source)
  • 'I still can't hear you,' Aarfy called back innocently with an expression of mild and reproving perplexity.†   (source)
  • Dr. Jones arches a brow, perplexed.†   (source)
  • We watched her go, slightly perplexed.†   (source)
  • The idea of eternal return is a mysterious one, and Nietzsche has often perplexed other philosophers with it: to think that everything recurs as we once experienced it, and that the recurrence itself recurs ad infinitum!†   (source)
  • "Well," says Martin, gazing at the page as though perplexed.†   (source)
  • The boys gave one another some perplexing looks.†   (source)
  • Lazily she turned her head toward me, her face showing no anxiety or perplexity at all.†   (source)
  • Everyone is perplexed with the question of what must be done to dissolve this fear and hatred that crouched over the land like a demon waiting to spring, and you know how he came and showed them the way.†   (source)
  • "How … dare you?" repeated the perplexed professor, sputtering as he regally strode to the window.†   (source)
  • Politics were no less perplexing than ever.†   (source)
  • "Lisa?" he said, perplexed.†   (source)
  • Explored our far-flung underground world in an endless wargame of leaps onto nothing, ingenious twists into freedom or new perplexity, quick whispered plottings with invisible friends, wild cackles when vengeance was mine.†   (source)
  • Sophie and a few other women sniffed at the spot and then, perplexed, silently looked at each other.†   (source)
  • It was perplexing to know whether the time had not come when we ought to get rid of the tell-tale great-horses — perhaps drive them on along the track while we made off in a different direction on foot.†   (source)
  • Utterly perplexed, Max pulled himself higher and stared in disbelief at his friend.†   (source)
  • Archie watched Carter drift away, looking troubled and perplexed.†   (source)
  • The hacker scowled, seeming more perplexed than mad, though.†   (source)
  • He desired to go to the high seat himself, hoping to see there something that would guide him in his perplexities; but time was pressing.†   (source)
  • It had let me know that it was okay to be perplexed, to be torn by issues, to look at the world and not feel inadequate because it would not sort itself out cleanly.†   (source)
  • I was perplexed as to what I should do.†   (source)
  • Cool and dry, ravenously hungry, lost, perplexed, and safe, they leaned back against their packs and blankets as they listened to the engines and the sea and watched the shore go by.†   (source)
  • He smiles, arms raised, palms turned up in an attitude of perplexity.†   (source)
  • A desiccated violet flattened in waxed paper made him first frown in perplexity and then smile, but without saying why, and he spent some time studying a typewritten list of what must have been New Year's resolutions.†   (source)
  • Dominique looks completely perplexed.†   (source)
  • The history of every political body using this principle is a history of impotence, perplexity, and disorder.†   (source)
  • He had never been impulsive, like Hill; there was even at this moment something grave and perplexed about him, a studious bewilderment.†   (source)
  • Her left eyebrow was slightly higher than her right, giving the impression that she was perpetually interested, or maybe perpetually perplexed.†   (source)
  • But most people are perplexed after someone is good to them when he should have been mean.†   (source)
  • The television commentators were perplexed.†   (source)
  • As I stared in perplexity, the first boa was joined by a second one, also waving furiously, and both boas began to move slowly along, parallel to the crest of the esker.†   (source)
  • Old Chao's voice was strangely rough, perplexity cut with cheer.†   (source)
  • " "Which is why I'm perplexed that you let drunken Reds sit around here in your own headquarters.†   (source)
  • Most perplexing of all was the number of people I tried to tell about my walk across America who wouldn't believe me.†   (source)
  • Lib and Helen stood behind him and watched, perplexed.†   (source)
  • Doubtless those nearest us who had witnessed the strange scene were perplexed.†   (source)
  • She was perplexed.†   (source)
  • She considers them in turn; they digest it, KELLER frowning, KATE perplexed.†   (source)
  • The pilot climbed out, shaking his head in perplexity.†   (source)
  • Then he began "The Old Rugged Cross" and they listened politely but when he had finished they said, "Let us sing one!" and before he could start another, they began to sing with their convent-trained voices, "Tantum ergo Sacramentum Veneremur Cernui: Et antiquum documentum Novo cedat ritui:" The child watched the boys' solemn faces turn with perplexed frowning stares at each other as if they were uncertain whether they were being made fun of.†   (source)
  • Papa's way of thinking perplexed her.†   (source)
  • What perplexed him in her voice was its remoteness.†   (source)
  • The perplexities of the time had now invaded his routine, and he was a troubled man.†   (source)
  • I went to my husband and he was perplexed twice over.†   (source)
  • "Oh!" and "So!" the policeman kept saying, while Howard in perplexity turned his head from side to side.†   (source)
  • His father looked perplexed, then shook his head.†   (source)
  • Her frown changed to a look of perplexity, then to a quick smile.†   (source)
  • Now Kino's face was perplexed and worried.   (source)
    perplexed = confused or puzzled
  • The danger is here, for two men are not as lonely and perplexed as one.   (source)
  • Then as is the nature of folk that are thoroughly perplexed, they began to grumble at the hobbit, blaming him for what had at first so pleased them:   (source)
  • The two men stood on the landing perplexed.   (source)
  • Phoebe loved no riddles, and would have been glad to escape the perplexity of this one.   (source)
    perplexity = confusion due to complexity
  • Bathsheba regarded him with round-eyed perplexity.   (source)
  • He vividly recalled those old doubts and perplexities,   (source)
    perplexities = things that confuse
  • It was a perplexing puzzle,   (source)
    perplexing = confusing due to complexity
  • He was a little country boy, and this village was to him a very strange and perplexing place, where people wore fine clothes and had hard hearts.   (source)
    perplexing = confusing
  • I pondered a moment in sore perplexity.   (source)
    perplexity = confusion due to complexity
  • Langdon looked equally perplexed, the excitement in his eyes evaporating.†   (source)
  • He is watching Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with a somber, perplexed expression.†   (source)
  • I must still look perplexed because Gale delivers the next line very slowly.†   (source)
  • Perplexed, the technician gazed up at the monitor.†   (source)
  • Linda came to accept my climbing: she saw that it was a crucial (if perplexing) part of who I was.†   (source)
  • Pouring himself a glass of orange juice, he watched these girls of his, perplexed.†   (source)
  • Perplexed, Langdon left him there and hurried outside.†   (source)
  • She was perplexed at first by the sudden smile.†   (source)
  • " The president doesn't seem alarmed, only somewhat perplexed, by this turn in events.†   (source)
  • The whole setup is completely perplexing.†   (source)
  • The priest scratched his head, looking perplexed.†   (source)
  • Then a perplexed look came across his face.†   (source)
  • The American mothers were at once charmed and perplexed by her sense of duty.†   (source)
  • Dumbledore's reading what signs?" said Ron, looking perplexed.†   (source)
  • Eragon halted in front of it, perplexed.†   (source)
  • It only lasted a precious minute, but I managed once to see my father perplexed.†   (source)
  • He is perplexed as to why the questions are directed to him.†   (source)
  • DANFORTH, perplexed, but politely extending his hand: If you please, sir.†   (source)
  • The young dinosaur seemed perplexed by the sounds and movement coming from its tiny prey.†   (source)
  • The gift delighted Mrs. Lawrence but also perplexed her.†   (source)
  • Aris nodded, obviously as perplexed as anyone else in the room.†   (source)
  • She didn't want to check her wrist, knowing that the comments would be perplexed and even concerned.†   (source)
  • Perplexed, I stand and lift the wire, confirming it's attached back at the tree.†   (source)
  • Perplexed, Ron followed Harry back to Gryffindor Tower at a run.†   (source)
  • The host of She on TV4 looked perplexed.†   (source)
  • And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"†   (source)
  • But the Panther looks perplexed, tipping her head to the side.†   (source)
  • I was perplexed, actually, perplexed and nervous, as if I were holding live explosives.†   (source)
  • 'I'm not here,' he said, sounding perplexed.†   (source)
  • "Four thousand men," Robb repeated, more perplexed than angry.†   (source)
  • He glanced at me, perplexed, and back to Carlisle.†   (source)
  • Bibwit's large ears crimped in perplexity.†   (source)
  • His eyes flutter open, perplexed, and then he lets out a sound of relief.†   (source)
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