Meaning & use
perplexedly
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Meanings
adverbformal
In a way that shows you are confused and unable to understand something.
Grammar: Modifies a verb or a whole clause: she looked perplexedly at the letter.
Patterns
- say something perplexedly
- look perplexedly at someone
- stare perplexedly at something
She stared perplexedly at the instructions, unable to work out which step came first.
He shook his head perplexedly and asked the same question again.
'But why would they do that?' she said perplexedly.
adverbformalrare
In a way that shows something is difficult to understand or seems contradictory.
Grammar: Used with verbs of thinking or speaking when the subject is a thing, not a person: the results puzzled him perplexedly is wrong; say 'the results were perplexing'.
Patterns
- speak perplexedly about something
The two reports describe the same event perplexedly differently, which made the committee suspicious.
She wrote perplexedly about the contradictions in the evidence.
Common combinations
- look perplexedly at
- The tourists looked perplexedly at the map and then at the sign.
- stare perplexedly
- He stared perplexedly at the empty box on his desk.
- ask perplexedly
- 'Who moved my chair?' she asked perplexedly.
- say something perplexedly
- 'That doesn't make sense,' he said perplexedly.
- shake one's head perplexedly
- The teacher shook her head perplexedly at the messy answer.
Synonyms and how they differ
- puzzledly
- Very close in meaning, but far less common and slightly more literary; most writers prefer 'perplexedly' or a phrase like 'with a puzzled look'.
- uncomprehendingly
- Suggests not understanding at all rather than being actively confused; it often sounds colder or more distant.
- blankly
- Describes an empty, expressionless look; it can suggest no thought at all, while 'perplexedly' shows active confusion.
- bewilderedly
- Stronger than 'perplexedly' and suggests being completely lost or overwhelmed.
Opposites
Word family
- perplex verb
- To confuse someone or make something hard to understand.
- perplexed adjective
- Confused because you cannot understand something.
- perplexing adjective
- Difficult to understand and therefore worrying or annoying.
- perplexity noun
- The state of being confused, or something that confuses you.
Commonly confused: perplexedly or perplexing? perplexedly or perplexity?
perplexedly vs perplexing
'Perplexed' describes a person who feels confused; 'perplexing' describes the thing that causes the confusion, as in 'a perplexing result'.
perplexedly vs perplexity
This is the noun, not the adverb: 'in perplexity' means 'in a confused state', while 'perplexedly' describes how an action is done.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'perplexedly' correctly.
Choose one answer.
'Perplexedly' is an adverb, so it describes how someone does something, as in 'looked perplexedly'. Option 0 uses it where an adjective ('perplexing') is needed, option 2 needs the adjective 'perplexed' after 'was', and option 3 needs a verb such as 'discussed'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “perplexedly”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.