How do you use the word "baffle" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "baffle": The thick walls baffle outside noises. You can baffle them with a simple question.

Baffle Meaning

/ˈbæfl̩/

Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

verbTo confuse or perplex (someone) completely; to bewilder, to confound, to puzzle.

verbTo defeat, frustrate, or thwart (someone or their efforts, plans, etc.); to confound, to foil.

Sentence Examples

The thick walls baffle outside noises.

You can baffle them with a simple question.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

get cross beat

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The complex instructions continued to ____ the students, leaving them completely confused and frustrated.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The difficult riddle will surely ____ even the smartest of people.

Word Origin & History

The origin of the verb is uncertain; it is possibly: * from French bafouer, baffoüer (“to abuse, revile; to confuse, baffle; to deceive; to flout; to scorn”), imitative of someone making a disdainful sound by expelling air quickly through pouted lips (compare Occitan baf (interjection expressing disdain)); or * from French befer, beffer, beffler (“(obsolete) to deceive; to mock, ridicule”) (compare Old French befe, beffe, buffe (“deception; mockery”); beferie (“deceit; quibbling”)), possibly from bafouer: see above. The noun is derived from the verb. Cognates * Italian beffare (“(verb) to deride, mock”), beffa (“(noun) banter; mockery”) * Occitan bafar (“(verb) to deride, mock”), bafa (“(noun) banter; mockery”) * Old Spanish bafa (modern Spanish befa (“(noun) banter; mockery”)) * Spanish befar (“(verb) to deride, mock”)

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"[T]he full, Entire knovvledge of it [the gospel] may be one Principal Part of our Felicity and Bleſſedneſs hereafter. All thoſe Heights and Depths vvhich vve novv ſtand ſo much amazed at, and vvhich ſo confound and baffle the ſubtleſt and moſt Piercing Apprehenſion, ſhall then be made Clear, Open and Familiar to us." — 1694 May 8 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar); first published 1698, Robert South, “Christianity Mysterious, and the Wisdom of God in Making It so, Proved in a Sermon Preached at Westminster-Abbey, April 29. 1694.”, in Twelve Sermons upon Several Subjects and Occasions, volume III, London: […] Tho[mas] Warren for Thomas Bennet […], →OCLC, page 294:

"VVhen the Mind, by inſenſible degrees, has brought it ſelf to Attention and cloſe Thinking, it vvill be able to copie vvith Difficulties, and maſter them vvithout any Prejudice to it ſelf, and then it may go on roundly. Every abſtruſe Problem, every intricate Queſtion vvill not baffle, diſcourage or break it." — a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC, § 27, pages 84–85:

"[A]s their calendar, at the time of the Conquest, was found to correspond with the European, (making allowance for the subsequent Gregorian reform,) they would seem to have adopted the shorter period of twelve days and a half, which brought them, within an almost inappreciable fraction, to the exact length of the tropical year, as established by the most accurate observations. […] Such was the astonishing precision displayed by the Aztecs, or, perhaps, by their more polished Toltec predecessors, in these computations, so difficult as to have baffled, till a comparatively recent period, the most enlightened nations of Christendom!" — 1843, William H[ickling] Prescott, “Mexican Hieroglyphics—Manuscripts—Arithmetic—Chronology—Astronomy”, in History of the Conquest of Mexico, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: Harper and Brothers, […], →OCLC, book VI (Siege and Surrender of Mexico), pages 112–113:

"There's a riddle now might baffle all the lawyers backed by the ghosts of the whole line of judges:—like a hawk's beak it pecks my brain." — 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Chase—Second Day”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 621:

"And ſhould the Parlament, endu'd vvith Legiſlative povver, make our Lavvs, and be after to diſpute them peice-meale vvith the reaſon, conſcience, humour, paſſion, fanſie, folly, obſtinacy, or other ends of one man, vvhoſe ſole vvord and vvill ſhall baffle and unmake vvhat all the vviſdom of a Parlement hath bin deliberatly framing, vvhat a ridiculous and contemptible thing a Parlament vvould ſoon be, […]" — 1649, J[ohn] Milton, “Intitl’d to the Prince of Wales.”, in ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC, page 219:

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