flummox

/ˈflʌməks/

Other forms: flummoxed; flummoxing; flummoxes

Does the word flummox bewilder, confound, dumbfound and generally mystify you? Well, fear no more, because flummox means all of these things!

Things that flummox you are probably not that serious, and often pretty amusing and informal: a TV remote or a crossword puzzle, for example, rather than something major like why your boyfriend or girlfriend broke up with you. (Now that's unfathomable.) Get this: linguists are actually mystified as to where the word flummox comes from — they're flummoxed, in other words. It may come from an old English word, flummock, meaning "to make untidy or confuse," but no one is really sure. Now, what could be more suitable?

Definitions of flummox

1. verb

   be puzzling or bewildering to
   synonyms: amaze, baffle, beat, bewilder, dumbfound, get, gravel, mystify, nonplus, perplex, pose, puzzle, stick, stupefy, vex

   types:

   mix up, stump

   cause to be perplexed or confounded

   riddle

   set a difficult problem or riddle

   elude, escape

   be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by

   defy, refuse, resist

   elude, especially in a baffling way

   type of:

   bedevil, befuddle, confound, confuse, discombobulate, fox, fuddle, throw

   be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly