Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To cause to be bewildered; confuse.
- transitive verb To occupy the attention of; absorb or engross.
- transitive verb Usage Problem To cause to be mildly or wryly amused.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To put into a muse or reverie; confuse; muddle; stupefy.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To muddle, daze, or partially stupefy, as with liquor.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
confuse orbewilder . - verb archaic, humorous To devote to the
Muses .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb cause to be confused emotionally
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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All the other dictionaries and usage guides maintain that "bemuse" suggests a frown or furrowed brow, not a smile.
CJR 2008
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All the other dictionaries and usage guides maintain that "bemuse" suggests a frown or furrowed brow, not a smile.
CJR 2008
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What has happened to "bemuse" has happened to a lot of other words: A perfectly good English word that means one thing is co-opted by people who think it means something else.
CJR 2008
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Australian novelist Christos Tsiolkas goes further, saying that the attacks by some critics on his novel The Slap as being vulgar or pornographic bemuse me as they seem to ignore how much of sexual imagination, particularly male sexual imagination, is now experienced through pornography itself.
Let's not talk about sex – why passion is waning in British books Susanna Rustin 2010
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I adapt with relative ease to the people I meet in the new places I visit and inhabit, although certain unwritten social rules continuously bemuse me.
Millie Kerr: Unwritten Urban Rules -- The Pet Edition Millie Kerr 2011
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"It's a temporary ban, designed to confuse and bemuse him, and hopefully engender a violent reaction," Morgan says.
Piers Morgan Expands His List of Guests He Doesn’t Want 2011
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As voted by you, internets, a few observations on differences that amuse/bemuse me.
Australia/New Zealand versus the USA: amusing differences karenhealey 2010
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The gendered language in this country will never cease to bemuse me.
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I adapt with relative ease to the people I meet in the new places I visit and inhabit, although certain unwritten social rules continuously bemuse me.
Millie Kerr: Unwritten Urban Rules -- The Pet Edition Millie Kerr 2011
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I adapt with relative ease to the people I meet in the new places I visit and inhabit, although certain unwritten social rules continuously bemuse me.
Millie Kerr: Unwritten Urban Rules -- The Pet Edition Millie Kerr 2011
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