Word.ws English Dictionary

kerflummox

kerflummox verb: to flummox; to perplex or baffle.

Verb

kerflummox (third-person singular simple present kerflummoxes, present participle kerflummoxing, simple past and past participle kerflummoxed)

  1. (informal, transitive) To flummox; to perplex or baffle.
  2. (archaic, informal, intransitive) To ponder or meditate.
    • Disko Troop was smoking by the roof of the cabin—one eye on the craft around, and the other on the little fly at the main-mast-head.
      "When Dad kerflummoxes that way," said Dan in a whisper, "he's doin' some high-line thinkin' fer all hands. I'll lay my wage an' share we'll make berth soon. […]"1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous

Forms of kerflummox

third-person singular presentkerflummoxes
present participlekerflummoxing
past participlekerflummoxed
pastkerflummoxed

Origin of kerflummox

From ker- + flummox.

Questions about kerflummox

What does kerflummox mean?
Kerflummox means to flummox; to perplex or baffle.
What part of speech is kerflummox?
Kerflummox is a verb.
What is the past tense of kerflummox?
The past tense of kerflummox is kerflummoxed.

Words near kerflummox in the dictionary

  1. kerflop
  2. kerfluff
  3. kerfluffle
  4. kerfluffles
  5. kerflumixed
  6. kerflummox
  7. kerflummoxed
  8. kerflummoxes
  9. kerflummoxing
  10. Kerfoot
  11. Kerfoots

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kerflummox (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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