perplexityn.

Brit.

/pəˈplɛksᵻti/, U.S.

/pərˈplɛksədi/

Forms: Middle English perplexete, Middle English perplexite, Middle English perplexitee, Middle English–1500s perplexyte, 1500s parplexity, 1500s perplexetie, 1500s perplexitye, 1500s perplexytie, 1500s–1600s perplexitie, 1500s– perplexity; Scottish pre-1700 perplexite, pre-1700 perplexitee, pre-1700 perplexitie, pre-1700 perplexyte, pre-1700 1700s– perplexity.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French perplexité; Latin perplexitas.

Etymology: < Middle French, French perplexité (c1330 in sense ‘confusion’, 1362 in sense ‘affliction, distress, suffering’) and its etymon post-classical Latin perplexitas entanglement, entwining, involved character (4th cent.) < classical Latin perplexus perplex adj. + -tās (see -ty suffix¹; compare -ity suffix).

a. Inability to decide what to think or how to act owing to the involved, intricate, or complicated condition of circumstances or of the matters to be dealt with, generally also involving mental perturbation or anxiety; (a state of) puzzlement, distraction, or bewilderment.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > [noun]

mingingOE

riddleOE

cumbermentc1300

willa1325

encumbrancec1330

were1338

perplexitya1393

discomfiturea1425

cumbrancec1460

confuse1483

proplexity1487

perplexion?c1500

amazedness?1520

amazement1553

subversion1558

amaze?1560

perplexednessa1586

confusedness1587

puzzle1599

confusion1600

mizmaze1604

discomfita1616

embarras1627

obfuscation1628

mystery1629

confoundedness1641

puzzledness1662

confuseness1710

puzzlement1731

puzzledom1748

embarrassment1751

puzzleation1767

bepuzzlement1806

conjecture1815

mystification1817

bewilderment1819

perplexment1826

fuddle1827

wilderment1830

discomforture1832

head-scratching1832

baffle1843

posement1850

muddlement1857

turbidity1868

fogging1878

bemuddlement1884

harl1889

befuddlement1905

turbidness1906

wuzziness1942

perplexability1999

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) viii. 2190 Tho was betwen mi Prest and me Debat and gret perplexete.

c1430 N. Love Mirror Blessed Life (Brasenose e.9) (1908) 247 (MED) Oure lady and John..were in grete perplexite and desolacioun.

1520 Chron. Eng. i. f. 6/2 The chyldren of Israell were in greate perplexyte.

1574 J. Baret Aluearie P 276 To be in so great daunger and perplexitie that he cannot tell what to dooe.

1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd ii. 38 Soon our joy is turn'd Into perplexity and new amaze.

1703 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion II. ix. 549 The King had stayed at Hereford..in great perplexity, and irresolution.

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson iii. vi. 346 As we had no observation of our latitude at noon, we were in some perplexity.

1839 T. De Quincey Recoll. Lakes in Wks. (1862) II. 29 Sometimes a fall from the summit of awful precipices has dismissed them from the anguish of perplexity..by dismissing them at once from life.

1866 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighb. (1878) xxxii. 550 I had been in great perplexity how to let her know that I was there.

1901 B. T. Washington Up from Slavery ii. 17 When I heard the school-roll called,..I was in deep perplexity, because I knew that the teacher would demand of me at least two names, and I only had one.

1996 T. N. Murari Steps from Paradise 304 She glanced at us, saw the perplexity as we tried to decipher the meaning.

b. An instance of this state or condition; a state of doubt or uncertainty. Usually in plural.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > [noun] > state or instance of

studyc1300

were1338

amazec1425

perplexityc1475

studiala1513

pose1600

stam1638

embarrassment1721

screw-up1950

c1475 ( in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1911) 26 523 I truste in..the kynge..to put suche a direction thairin as shall withdrowe all manere of douutes and perplexytes in this be halfe.

1493 Chastysing Goddes Chyldern (de Worde) iv. sig. Aiv^v/2 Some falle in perplexitees for a thyng y^t nought is to charge or lityl.

1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 486 Then liued the chosen people of God in the old law in a strange perplexitie.

1610 R. Cunnynghame Let. 30 Apr. in Harper's Mag. (1884) May 827/1 He sett about devising some plan to aid me in my perplexities.

1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 304 Till by thir own perplexities involv'd They ravel more, still less resolv'd.

1721 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. To Tweag, to Tweak (tweken, Du. to pinch), to put into a Fret or Perplexity.

1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 36. ⁋8 Accidents which produce perplexities, terrors, and surprises.

1842 E. B. Pusey Crisis Eng. Church 36 To this they will ever be edged on by those, who are watching to take advantage of our perplexities.

1986 R. Glasser Growing up in Gorbals 78 Mother and child might lie awake for a while, locked in unique perplexities.

c. A thing that causes a state of perplexity; a matter or cause of doubt or uncertainty; a puzzle, a difficulty, a problem.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > difficulty > types of difficulty > [noun] > difficulty or perplexity > a difficult or perplexing problem

perplexity1589

perplex1652

tostication1748

aporia1893

headache1909

head-scratcher1938

migraine1942

ass-kicker1973

1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie i. xi. 20 An other sort [of poets]..sought the fauor of faire Ladies, and coueted to bemone their estates at large, & the perplexities of loue in a certain pitious verse called Elegie.

1598 F. Meres Palladis Tamia 284 To bewaile..the perplexities of Loue.

1609 Bible (Douay) I. Susanna i. 22 Susanna sighed and sayd: Perplexities are to me on everie side.

1687 London Gaz. No. 2284/1 This Grant of the Subsidy of 100 Roman Months hath met with another Perplexity.

1713 G. Berkeley Three Dialogues Hylas & Philonous iii. 229 I warrant it shall conduct you through as many perplexities and contradictions.

1772 J. Woolman Jrnl. 28 May (1971) xi. 175 The great difficulties and perplexities in this present age.

1816 T. Chalmers Let. in W. Hanna Mem. T. Chalmers (1851) II. 65 Running into the dark unknown of legal perplexities.

1877 J. A. Froude Short Stud. (1883) IV. i. ii. 24 The condition of the clergy was a pressing and practical perplexity.

1900 Dict. National Biogr. LXI. 12/1 He gives various anecdotes of the perplexities into which he brought other clergyman by insisting upon their taking notice of vice in high positions.

1914 V. L. Collins Princeton 376 Each [student] has an ‘adviser’ among the younger members of the faculty to whom he is encouraged to go with all or any of his perplexities.

2002 Washington Times (Nexis) 19 Apr. a21 The ministers..shuttled from Doha to Kuala Lumpur, scratching their heads (or head scarves) over the supposed perplexities of the issue.

2. Trouble, distress, affliction, torment; peril; an instance of this.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > suffering > [noun]

sorec888

teeneOE

sorrowOE

workOE

wrakeOE

careOE

gramec1000

harmOE

howc1000

trayOE

woweOE

angec1175

derfnessc1175

sytec1175

unwinc1175

wosithc1200

ail?c1225

barrat?c1225

derf?c1225

grief?c1225

misease?c1225

misliking?c1225

ofthinkingc1225

passion?c1225

troublec1230

pinec1275

distress1297

grievancea1300

penancea1300

cumbermentc1300

languorc1300

cumbering1303

were1303

angera1325

strifea1325

sweama1325

woea1325

painc1330

tribulationc1330

illa1340

threst1340

constraintc1374

troublenessc1380

afflictiona1382

bruisinga1382

miseasetya1382

pressurec1384

exercisec1386

miscomfortc1390

mislikea1400

smarta1400

thronga1400

balec1400

painfulnessc1400

troublancec1400

smartness?c1425

painliness1435

perplexity?a1439

penalty?1462

calamity1490

penality1496

cumber?a1513

sussy1513

tribule1513

afflict?1529

vexation of spirit1535

troublesomeness1561

hoe1567

grievedness1571

tribulance1575

languishment1576

thrall1578

tine1590

languorment1593

aggrievedness1594

obturbation1623

afflictedness1646

erumny1657

pathos1684

shock1705

dree1791

vex1815

wrungnessa1875

dukkha1886

thinkache1892

sufferation1976

a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) iii. 1102 (MED) He dede this gret offence, Mi liff, my worshepe put in perplexite.

c1480 (a1400) St. Blaise 346 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 371 Quha-sa-euire in þare throt seknes has, awne ore mot, ore ony kyne perplexite.

c1500 (?a1475) Assembly of Gods (1896) 200 (MED) Let me the mater here, Why he ys brought in thys perplexyte.

1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour ii. vii. sig. Qiv The empresse Liuia..ministred to her lorde that noble counsayle in suche a perplexitie: wherby he saued bothe him selfe and his people.

1574 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1878) 1st Ser. II. 383 The said Issobell and hir..bairnis ar in grit perplexitie and povertie.

1631 J. Mabbe tr. F. de Rojas Spanish Bawd iii. 53 Who is this sicke man, who feeling such great perplexity, hath both his sicknes and his cure, flowing from one, and the selfe same Fountaine?

1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 283 I was now light-hearted,..all my Trouble and Perplexity that I have given an Account of being over.

1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest III. xx. 230 To the horrors of remorse succeeded the perplexities of fear.

1827 C. M. Sedgwick Hope Leslie I. iii. 52 Nor have I been unmindful of any of thy perplexities by sickness and otherwise.

1890 M. Oliphant Kirsteen III. xliii. 232 ‘Oh, what am I to do?’ she said to herself. How often these words are said by people in mortal perplexity, in difficulty and trouble.

1949 O. Doughty Victorian Romantic: D. G. Rossetti iv. i. 571 These last years held little more than a wearisome round of increasing personal perplexities, physical ills and gradual exhaustion.

1997 J. Carpenter Revive Us Again v. 95 The perplexity and suffering of people throughout the world were great in the 1930s and 1940s.

a. An intricately involved or confused state of an affair, matter, etc.; complexity; (also) an instance of this; a circumstance or aspect that complicates a matter.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [noun]

deepnessa1000

subtletya1387

difficultyc1405

mistiheadc1425

darknessc1450

obscurity1474

profoundnessc1475

obscureness1509

profundity1559

perplexity1563

opacity1575

darksomeness1583

perplexednessa1586

deptha1593

spinosity1605

abstruseness1628

abstrusity1649

inevidence1673

enigmaticalness1684

dark1699

indistinctness1704

confusion1729

reconditeness1779

obfuscity1832

oracularity1840

irrecognizability1847

recondity1856

unrecognizableness1865

crypticity1892

the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > entanglement or entangled state > complication or complexity > [noun] > a complicated state of affairs

labyrinthc1450

proplexity1487

maze1531

perplexity1563

intricacy1611

intrigo1648

intrigue1660

intricoa1670

wheels within wheels1679

imbroglio1818

involvement1821

scrimmage1852

situation1954

1563 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1888) I. 110 Mairover quhow deliuer ȝe ȝour selfis of the perplexitie of thir twa contrarious lawis.

1633 Bp. J. Hall Plaine Explic. Hard Texts i. 441 Then doe also appear a certaine intricatenesse, and a perplexitie in the proceedings thereof.

1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 71 To free the Enquiry from the Perplexities that some Undertakers have encumber'd it withall.

1743 S. Johnson Let. 1 Dec. (1992) I. 38 With respect to the Interest, which a great Perplexity of affairs hindered me from thinking of.

1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature I. 127 This subject, as I before observed, with all its perplexities, was much agitated by the ancients.

a1817 J. Austen Northanger Abbey (1818) II. 306 On developing, from amidst all her perplexity of words in reply, the meaning, which one short syllable would have given.

1996 Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) (Nexis) 2 Apr. b1 The perplexity of the issues that are being talked about down in Harrisburg.

b. An entangled or disordered state of a material thing; an object in such a state. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > entanglement or entangled state > [noun]

implicationc1430

implicamentc1450

imployment1598

implicity1602

tangle1615

illigation1656

perplexity1664

entanglement1687

intertwisting1753

intertanglement1817

tanglement1831

ravelment1833

bewilderment1844

intertwist1870

betanglement1881

1664 J. Evelyn Sylva 3 Dropp'd, and disseminated amongst the..perplexities of the mother-roots.

1738 F. Wise Let. to Dr. Mead 4 The paths are frequently untrod, either leading over dry and barren desarts, or through the perplexities of woods and coverts.

1779 J. Moore View Society & Manners France (1789) I. xxiv. 190 The difficulty and perplexity of the road.

1801 Asiatic Ann. Reg. 1800 Misc. Tracts 14/1 Toilsome and intricate marches..with successive difficulties to encounter, from the perplexities of the country.

1881 Macmillan's Mag. 45 34 The dense perplexity of dwarf palm, garlanded creepers, glossy undergrowth.

1940 H. Spring Fame is Spur ii. 10 He had never..encountered such a perplexity of cutlery and crockery.

1989 Washington Times (Nexis) 25 Sept. d8 It had looked like an unblemished canvas until the perplexity of shadows across its surface was seen to be part of the painting.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	perplexity
释义	perplexityn. Brit. /pəˈplɛksᵻti/, U.S. /pərˈplɛksədi/ Forms: Middle English perplexete, Middle English perplexite, Middle English perplexitee, Middle English–1500s perplexyte, 1500s parplexity, 1500s perplexetie, 1500s perplexitye, 1500s perplexytie, 1500s–1600s perplexitie, 1500s– perplexity; Scottish pre-1700 perplexite, pre-1700 perplexitee, pre-1700 perplexitie, pre-1700 perplexyte, pre-1700 1700s– perplexity. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French perplexité; Latin perplexitas. Etymology: < Middle French, French perplexité (c1330 in sense ‘confusion’, 1362 in sense ‘affliction, distress, suffering’) and its etymon post-classical Latin perplexitas entanglement, entwining, involved character (4th cent.) < classical Latin perplexus perplex adj. + -tās (see -ty suffix¹; compare -ity suffix). 1. a. Inability to decide what to think or how to act owing to the involved, intricate, or complicated condition of circumstances or of the matters to be dealt with, generally also involving mental perturbation or anxiety; (a state of) puzzlement, distraction, or bewilderment. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > [noun] mingingOE riddleOE cumbermentc1300 willa1325 encumbrancec1330 were1338 perplexitya1393 discomfiturea1425 cumbrancec1460 confuse1483 proplexity1487 perplexion?c1500 amazedness?1520 amazement1553 subversion1558 amaze?1560 perplexednessa1586 confusedness1587 puzzle1599 confusion1600 mizmaze1604 discomfita1616 embarras1627 obfuscation1628 mystery1629 confoundedness1641 puzzledness1662 confuseness1710 puzzlement1731 puzzledom1748 embarrassment1751 puzzleation1767 bepuzzlement1806 conjecture1815 mystification1817 bewilderment1819 perplexment1826 fuddle1827 wilderment1830 discomforture1832 head-scratching1832 baffle1843 posement1850 muddlement1857 turbidity1868 fogging1878 bemuddlement1884 harl1889 befuddlement1905 turbidness1906 wuzziness1942 perplexability1999 a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) viii. 2190 Tho was betwen mi Prest and me Debat and gret perplexete. c1430 N. Love Mirror Blessed Life (Brasenose e.9) (1908) 247 (MED) Oure lady and John..were in grete perplexite and desolacioun. 1520 Chron. Eng. i. f. 6/2 The chyldren of Israell were in greate perplexyte. 1574 J. Baret Aluearie P 276 To be in so great daunger and perplexitie that he cannot tell what to dooe. 1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd ii. 38 Soon our joy is turn'd Into perplexity and new amaze. View more context for this quotation 1703 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion II. ix. 549 The King had stayed at Hereford..in great perplexity, and irresolution. 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson iii. vi. 346 As we had no observation of our latitude at noon, we were in some perplexity. 1839 T. De Quincey Recoll. Lakes in Wks. (1862) II. 29 Sometimes a fall from the summit of awful precipices has dismissed them from the anguish of perplexity..by dismissing them at once from life. 1866 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighb. (1878) xxxii. 550 I had been in great perplexity how to let her know that I was there. 1901 B. T. Washington Up from Slavery ii. 17 When I heard the school-roll called,..I was in deep perplexity, because I knew that the teacher would demand of me at least two names, and I only had one. 1996 T. N. Murari Steps from Paradise 304 She glanced at us, saw the perplexity as we tried to decipher the meaning. b. An instance of this state or condition; a state of doubt or uncertainty. Usually in plural. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > [noun] > state or instance of studyc1300 were1338 amazec1425 perplexityc1475 studiala1513 pose1600 stam1638 embarrassment1721 screw-up1950 c1475 ( in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1911) 26 523 I truste in..the kynge..to put suche a direction thairin as shall withdrowe all manere of douutes and perplexytes in this be halfe. 1493 Chastysing Goddes Chyldern (de Worde) iv. sig. Aiv^v/2 Some falle in perplexitees for a thyng y^t nought is to charge or lityl. 1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 486 Then liued the chosen people of God in the old law in a strange perplexitie. 1610 R. Cunnynghame Let. 30 Apr. in Harper's Mag. (1884) May 827/1 He sett about devising some plan to aid me in my perplexities. 1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 304 Till by thir own perplexities involv'd They ravel more, still less resolv'd. View more context for this quotation 1721 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. To Tweag, to Tweak (tweken, Du. to pinch), to put into a Fret or Perplexity. 1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 36. ⁋8 Accidents which produce perplexities, terrors, and surprises. 1842 E. B. Pusey Crisis Eng. Church 36 To this they will ever be edged on by those, who are watching to take advantage of our perplexities. 1986 R. Glasser Growing up in Gorbals 78 Mother and child might lie awake for a while, locked in unique perplexities. c. A thing that causes a state of perplexity; a matter or cause of doubt or uncertainty; a puzzle, a difficulty, a problem. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > difficulty > types of difficulty > [noun] > difficulty or perplexity > a difficult or perplexing problem perplexity1589 perplex1652 tostication1748 aporia1893 headache1909 head-scratcher1938 migraine1942 ass-kicker1973 1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie i. xi. 20 An other sort [of poets]..sought the fauor of faire Ladies, and coueted to bemone their estates at large, & the perplexities of loue in a certain pitious verse called Elegie. 1598 F. Meres Palladis Tamia 284 To bewaile..the perplexities of Loue. 1609 Bible (Douay) I. Susanna i. 22 Susanna sighed and sayd: Perplexities are to me on everie side. 1687 London Gaz. No. 2284/1 This Grant of the Subsidy of 100 Roman Months hath met with another Perplexity. 1713 G. Berkeley Three Dialogues Hylas & Philonous iii. 229 I warrant it shall conduct you through as many perplexities and contradictions. 1772 J. Woolman Jrnl. 28 May (1971) xi. 175 The great difficulties and perplexities in this present age. 1816 T. Chalmers Let. in W. Hanna Mem. T. Chalmers (1851) II. 65 Running into the dark unknown of legal perplexities. 1877 J. A. Froude Short Stud. (1883) IV. i. ii. 24 The condition of the clergy was a pressing and practical perplexity. 1900 Dict. National Biogr. LXI. 12/1 He gives various anecdotes of the perplexities into which he brought other clergyman by insisting upon their taking notice of vice in high positions. 1914 V. L. Collins Princeton 376 Each [student] has an ‘adviser’ among the younger members of the faculty to whom he is encouraged to go with all or any of his perplexities. 2002 Washington Times (Nexis) 19 Apr. a21 The ministers..shuttled from Doha to Kuala Lumpur, scratching their heads (or head scarves) over the supposed perplexities of the issue. 2. Trouble, distress, affliction, torment; peril; an instance of this. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > suffering > [noun] sorec888 teeneOE sorrowOE workOE wrakeOE careOE gramec1000 harmOE howc1000 trayOE woweOE angec1175 derfnessc1175 sytec1175 unwinc1175 wosithc1200 ail?c1225 barrat?c1225 derf?c1225 grief?c1225 misease?c1225 misliking?c1225 ofthinkingc1225 passion?c1225 troublec1230 pinec1275 distress1297 grievancea1300 penancea1300 cumbermentc1300 languorc1300 cumbering1303 were1303 angera1325 strifea1325 sweama1325 woea1325 painc1330 tribulationc1330 illa1340 threst1340 constraintc1374 troublenessc1380 afflictiona1382 bruisinga1382 miseasetya1382 pressurec1384 exercisec1386 miscomfortc1390 mislikea1400 smarta1400 thronga1400 balec1400 painfulnessc1400 troublancec1400 smartness?c1425 painliness1435 perplexity?a1439 penalty?1462 calamity1490 penality1496 cumber?a1513 sussy1513 tribule1513 afflict?1529 vexation of spirit1535 troublesomeness1561 hoe1567 grievedness1571 tribulance1575 languishment1576 thrall1578 tine1590 languorment1593 aggrievedness1594 obturbation1623 afflictedness1646 erumny1657 pathos1684 shock1705 dree1791 vex1815 wrungnessa1875 dukkha1886 thinkache1892 sufferation1976 a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) iii. 1102 (MED) He dede this gret offence, Mi liff, my worshepe put in perplexite. c1480 (a1400) St. Blaise 346 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 371 Quha-sa-euire in þare throt seknes has, awne ore mot, ore ony kyne perplexite. c1500 (?a1475) Assembly of Gods (1896) 200 (MED) Let me the mater here, Why he ys brought in thys perplexyte. 1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour ii. vii. sig. Qiv The empresse Liuia..ministred to her lorde that noble counsayle in suche a perplexitie: wherby he saued bothe him selfe and his people. 1574 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1878) 1st Ser. II. 383 The said Issobell and hir..bairnis ar in grit perplexitie and povertie. 1631 J. Mabbe tr. F. de Rojas Spanish Bawd iii. 53 Who is this sicke man, who feeling such great perplexity, hath both his sicknes and his cure, flowing from one, and the selfe same Fountaine? 1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 283 I was now light-hearted,..all my Trouble and Perplexity that I have given an Account of being over. 1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest III. xx. 230 To the horrors of remorse succeeded the perplexities of fear. 1827 C. M. Sedgwick Hope Leslie I. iii. 52 Nor have I been unmindful of any of thy perplexities by sickness and otherwise. 1890 M. Oliphant Kirsteen III. xliii. 232 ‘Oh, what am I to do?’ she said to herself. How often these words are said by people in mortal perplexity, in difficulty and trouble. 1949 O. Doughty Victorian Romantic: D. G. Rossetti iv. i. 571 These last years held little more than a wearisome round of increasing personal perplexities, physical ills and gradual exhaustion. 1997 J. Carpenter Revive Us Again v. 95 The perplexity and suffering of people throughout the world were great in the 1930s and 1940s. 3. a. An intricately involved or confused state of an affair, matter, etc.; complexity; (also) an instance of this; a circumstance or aspect that complicates a matter. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [noun] deepnessa1000 subtletya1387 difficultyc1405 mistiheadc1425 darknessc1450 obscurity1474 profoundnessc1475 obscureness1509 profundity1559 perplexity1563 opacity1575 darksomeness1583 perplexednessa1586 deptha1593 spinosity1605 abstruseness1628 abstrusity1649 inevidence1673 enigmaticalness1684 dark1699 indistinctness1704 confusion1729 reconditeness1779 obfuscity1832 oracularity1840 irrecognizability1847 recondity1856 unrecognizableness1865 crypticity1892 the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > entanglement or entangled state > complication or complexity > [noun] > a complicated state of affairs labyrinthc1450 proplexity1487 maze1531 perplexity1563 intricacy1611 intrigo1648 intrigue1660 intricoa1670 wheels within wheels1679 imbroglio1818 involvement1821 scrimmage1852 situation1954 1563 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1888) I. 110 Mairover quhow deliuer ȝe ȝour selfis of the perplexitie of thir twa contrarious lawis. 1633 Bp. J. Hall Plaine Explic. Hard Texts i. 441 Then doe also appear a certaine intricatenesse, and a perplexitie in the proceedings thereof. 1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 71 To free the Enquiry from the Perplexities that some Undertakers have encumber'd it withall. 1743 S. Johnson Let. 1 Dec. (1992) I. 38 With respect to the Interest, which a great Perplexity of affairs hindered me from thinking of. 1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature I. 127 This subject, as I before observed, with all its perplexities, was much agitated by the ancients. a1817 J. Austen Northanger Abbey (1818) II. 306 On developing, from amidst all her perplexity of words in reply, the meaning, which one short syllable would have given. View more context for this quotation 1996 Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) (Nexis) 2 Apr. b1 The perplexity of the issues that are being talked about down in Harrisburg. b. An entangled or disordered state of a material thing; an object in such a state. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > entanglement or entangled state > [noun] implicationc1430 implicamentc1450 imployment1598 implicity1602 tangle1615 illigation1656 perplexity1664 entanglement1687 intertwisting1753 intertanglement1817 tanglement1831 ravelment1833 bewilderment1844 intertwist1870 betanglement1881 1664 J. Evelyn Sylva 3 Dropp'd, and disseminated amongst the..perplexities of the mother-roots. 1738 F. Wise Let. to Dr. Mead 4 The paths are frequently untrod, either leading over dry and barren desarts, or through the perplexities of woods and coverts. 1779 J. Moore View Society & Manners France (1789) I. xxiv. 190 The difficulty and perplexity of the road. 1801 Asiatic Ann. Reg. 1800 Misc. Tracts 14/1 Toilsome and intricate marches..with successive difficulties to encounter, from the perplexities of the country. 1881 Macmillan's Mag. 45 34 The dense perplexity of dwarf palm, garlanded creepers, glossy undergrowth. 1940 H. Spring Fame is Spur ii. 10 He had never..encountered such a perplexity of cutlery and crockery. 1989 Washington Times (Nexis) 25 Sept. d8 It had looked like an unblemished canvas until the perplexity of shadows across its surface was seen to be part of the painting. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.a1393
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