three words slipping on a puddle

Question

I have three verbs, befuddle, baffle and confuse, and want to know how they are different in terms of their usage and meaning?befuddlebaffleconfuse

Marius Hancu · Accepted Answer

They all have in common the meaning of perplex, but they are different in other respects, confuse being the most versatile:

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baf·fle

2 : to defeat or check (as understanding, plans, efforts, actions) by confusing or puzzling : , http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged?book=Third&va=perplex, http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged?book=Third&va=frustrate<with postwar verse, the ... untutored reader is apt to admit himself quite baffled -- C.D.Lewis> <the swiftness of his marches baffled alike flight and resistance -- J.A.Froude>
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be·fuddle

1 : to dull, muddle, or stupefy <a mind befuddled with fatigue> <the old doctor is befuddled with drink all the time -- Ellen Glasgow>
2 : to throw into confusion or perplexity : <the problem befuddled the experts>
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con·fuse

2 a : to make ashamed or embarrassed : http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged?book=Third&va=abash, , http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged?book=Third&va=fluster b :: http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged?book=Third&va=mislead, http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged?book=Third&va=bewilder, http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged?book=Third&va=perplex+: throw off

3 a : to dull or make indistinct the outlines or separate elements of (as a picture, pattern, or narrative) : http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged?book=Third&va=blur<confuse the issue in a debate> b : to throw into disorder : jumble together <a ... wind confused the waters -- Virginia Woolf> <confuse accounts> c : to mistake (one person or thing) for another : fail to distinguish between (two or more separate entities) : http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged?book=Third&va=confound<expression may be too easily confused with communication -- Havelock Ellis>
intransitive verb : to fail to discriminate <I always confuse between him and Orion -- W.F.de Morgan>

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three words slipping on a puddle

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