different between muddle vs perplex

English

Etymology

From Middle Dutch moddelen (“to make muddy”), from modde, mod (“mud”) (Modern Dutch modder). Compare German Kuddelmuddel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?d?l/
• Rhymes: -?d?l

Verb

muddle (third-person singular simple present muddles, present participle muddling, simple past and past participle muddled)

1. To mix together, to mix up; to confuse.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of F. W. Newman to this entry?)

2. To mash slightly for use in a cocktail.

3. To dabble in mud.
   • c. 1721-1722, Jonathan Swift, The Progress of Marriage

     Young ducklings foster'd by a hen;
     But, when let out, they run and muddle

4. To make turbid or muddy.
5. To think and act in a confused, aimless way.
6. To cloud or stupefy; to render stupid with liquor; to intoxicate partially.
   • 1692, Richard Bentley, A Confutation of Atheism

     Their old master Epicurus seems to have had his brains so muddled and confounded with them, that he scarce ever kept in the right way.

   • 1712, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull

     often drunk, always muddled

7. To waste or misuse, as one does who is stupid or intoxicated.
   • 1821, William Hazlitt, On the Want of Money

     They muddle it [money] away without method or object, and without having anything to show for it.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

muddle (plural muddles)

1. A mixture; a confusion; a garble.

2. (cooking and cocktails) A mixture of crushed ingredients, as prepared with a muddler.

Translations

Derived terms

• muddle-headed

English

Etymology

From Old French, from Latin perplexus (“entangled, confused”), from per (“through”) + plexus, perfect passive participle of plect? (“plait, weave, braid”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: p?rpl?ks?, IPA^(key): /p??pl?ks/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: p?pl?ks?, IPA^(key): /p??pl?ks/
• Rhymes: -?ks

Verb

perplex (third-person singular simple present perplexes, present participle perplexing, simple past and past participle perplexed)

1. (transitive) To cause to feel baffled; to puzzle.
2. (transitive) To involve; to entangle; to make intricate or complicated.

   • What was thought obscure, perplexed, and too hard for our weak parts, will lie open to the understanding in a fair view.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To plague; to vex; to torment.
   • 1726, George Granville, Chloe

     Chloe's the wonder of her sex, 'Tis well her heart is tender, How might such killing eyes perplex, With virtue to defend her.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:confuse

Related terms

• perplexable
• perplexation
• perplexed
• perplexedness
• perplexing
• perplexity
• perplexment

Translations

Adjective

perplex (comparative more perplex, superlative most perplex)

1. (obsolete) intricate; difficult
   • 1665, Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica

     How the soul directs the spirits for the motion of the body, according to the several animal exigents, is as perplex in the Theory, as either of the former.

Noun

perplex (plural perplexes)

1. (obsolete) A difficulty.

Further reading

• perplex in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• perplex in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• perplex at OneLook Dictionary Search

German

Etymology

From French perplexe, from Latin perplexus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p???pl?ks/
• Hyphenation: per?plex

Adjective

perplex (comparative perplexer, superlative am perplexesten)

1. (colloquial, rarely attributive) confused, perplexed, puzzled

   Synonyms: verdutzt, verblüfft, verwirrt

Declension

Related terms

• Perplexität

Further reading

• “perplex” in Duden online
• “perplex” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “perplex” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.

Romanian

Etymology

From French perplexe, from Latin perplex.

Adjective

perplex m or n (feminine singular perplex?, masculine plural perplec?i, feminine and neuter plural perplexe)

1. perplexed

Declension