See main entry: baffle

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

confusing unclear and difficult to understand:
a confusing message
The road signs were very confusing and we ended up getting lost.
puzzling (also perplexing formal) confusing, especially because something is different from what you expect:
Jan's decision not to take part in the race was very puzzling.
It was the trivial details which he found so perplexing.
baffling extremely difficult to understand even though you have tried for a long time:
Police are close to solving one of Australia's most baffling murder cases.
The failure was baffling, given the success of his previous businesses.
bewildering very confusing, especially because something is strange or new, or because there are a lot of different things:
Brain diseases can cause many bewildering changes in a person's emotions and behaviour.
There is a bewildering number of mobile phone deals on offer.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

mysterious difficult to explain or understand, and often strange or slightly frightening:
the mysterious disappearance of ships in the waters of the Bermuda Triangle
What’s that mysterious noise?
puzzling difficult to explain or understand:
At first this must seem a puzzling question.
I found her attitude deeply puzzling.
baffling impossible to understand, so that you feel very confused:
It was a baffling case.
Like many people, I find theroretical physics baffling.
inexplicable formal impossible to explain:
For some inexplicable reason her mind went completely blank.
Some things in life are inexplicable.
enigmatic formal mysterious and difficult to understand, but also often attractive or interesting – used especially about people, their expressions, or things they say:
She gave him an enigmatic smile.
an enigmatic remark
cryptic formal having a meaning that is difficult to understand, and is not expressed in a clear direct way – used especially about things that people say or write:
I got a rather cryptic message from him.
cryptic comments
be a mystery if something is a mystery, you cannot understand how or why it happens:
Four years later, his death remains a complete mystery.
It’s all a mystery to me.
be shrouded/veiled in mystery if an event or a situation, especially one that happened a long time ago, is shrouded in mystery, it is mysterious because no one knows exactly what happened:
Stone age civilization, veiled in mystery as it is, has provided the greatest challenge to historians.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲