flummox

verb

flum·​mox ˈflə-məks How to pronounce flummox (audio)
-miks
flummoxed; flummoxing; flummoxes

transitive verb

: confuse
He was flummoxed by the legal jargon.
a happy innocent who had been flummoxed by wily city slickersAndy Logan

Did you know?

No one is completely sure where the word flummox comes from, but Charles Dickens was aware of it and used it in his 1837 novel The Pickwick Papers. It became quite common in both British and American English by the end of the 19th century.

Examples of flummox in a Sentence

an actor who's easily flummoxed by any changes in the script
Recent Examples on the Web Many groups watching the decision are flummoxed by the Arizona wildlife commission’s decision to take up the question of auction vs. raffle arrangements. Andrew McKean, Outdoor Life, 13 Mar. 2024 And then, when the tension was highest, Wilks decided to start running more man-to-man looks. Mahomes, flummoxed to that point in the game, couldn’t believe his luck. Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 14 Feb. 2024 Three plays later, on third-and-long, Unitas flummoxed the defense, bringing four wide receivers to the line of scrimmage. Mike Klingaman, Baltimore Sun, 27 Jan. 2024 Both men have sometimes misspoken in ways that flummoxed their audiences and prompted explanations by aides afterwards, and Trump already has been hammering Biden as befuddled or worse. Susan Page, USA TODAY, 24 Jan. 2024 Hellworld finds Bota attempting to inject the proceedings with a Scream-style meta-comedy that will only flummox its audience. Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 19 Oct. 2023 For the first five innings, they were mostly flummoxed by a 25-year-old pumping fastballs that touched 104 mph. Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 18 Jan. 2024 Similarly, simmering concerns about the state’s residents not being representative of the nation’s demographics and direction never reached a full boil — until the state’s Democrats so badly flummoxed the 2020 caucus that no formal winner was declared. Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 15 Jan. 2024 When asked by his Playboy editor over lunch at a Chinese restaurant in 1972 to take part in an orgy in order to write an amusing essay, Mr. Greenburg was flummoxed. Glenn Rifkin, New York Times, 19 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'flummox.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

origin unknown

First Known Use

1836, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of flummox was in 1836

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Dictionary Entries Near flummox

Cite this Entry

“Flummox.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flummox. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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