different between bafflement vs conundrum

English

Etymology

From baffle +? -ment.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?baf(?)lm?nt/

Noun

bafflement (countable and uncountable, plural bafflements)

1. (uncountable) The state or result of being baffled, puzzled, or confused.

   • He made a gesture of bafflement.

     "None whatever—it's beyond me," he confessed.

   • 2008, Chris Rojek, Brit-Myth: Who Do the British Think They Are?, Reaktion Books (?ISBN)

     The error here is to confuse British composure with the appearance of bafflement, embarrassment and reserve.

2. (countable) Something that causes a state of confusion or puzzlement.
   • 2005 Dec. 16, Josh Tyrangiel, "Best of 2005: Music," Time:

     The cartoon characters on the front cover, the irritatingly meaningless track names . . . make it seem like a concept album about global warming for kids. Since the lyrics remain a bafflement, it might well be.

Translations

English

Etymology

A word of unknown origin with several variants, gaining popularity for its burlesque imitation of scholastic Latin, as hocus-pocus or panjandrum. If there is more to its origin than a nonce coinage, Anatoly Liberman suggests the best theory is that connecting it with the Conimbricenses, 16th c. scholastic commentaries on Aristotle by the Jesuits of Coimbra which indulge heavily in arguments relying on multiple significations of words.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /k??n?n.d??m/

Noun

conundrum (plural conundrums or conundra)

1. A difficult question or riddle, especially one using a play on words in the answer.

   Synonyms: brain-teaser, enigma, puzzle, riddle

   • 1816, Jane Austen, Emma, Vol. 1, Ch. 2

     “Why should I understand that, or anything else?” asked the girl. “Don’t bother my head by asking conundrums, I beg of you. Just let me discover myself in my own way.”
2. A difficult choice or decision that must be made.

   Synonyms: dilemma; see also Thesaurus:dilemma

   • 2004, Martha Stewart, statement read before being sentenced to five months in prison

     And while I am more concerned about the well-being of others than for myself, more hurt for them and for their losses than for my own, more worried for their futures than for the future of Martha Stewart the person, you are faced with a conundrum, a problem of monumental, to me, proportions.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:conundrum.

Translations

Further reading

• conundrum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Conundrum in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

References