Word.ws English Dictionary

perplexes

perplexes is the third-person singular simple present indicative of perplex.

Meaning of perplex

Verb

perplex (third-person singular simple present perplexes, present participle perplexing, simple past and past participle perplexed)

  1. (transitive) To cause to feel baffled; to puzzle.
  2. (transitive) To involve; to entangle; to make intricate or complicated.
    • What was thought obscure, perplexed, and too hard for our weak parts, will lie open to the understanding in a fair view.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
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To plague; to vex; to torment.
    • Chloe's the wonder of her sex, 'Tis well her heart is tender, How might such killing eyes perplex, With virtue to defend her.1726, George Granville, Chloe

See all 5 meanings of perplex

Questions about perplexes

What is perplexes the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Perplexes is the third-person singular simple present indicative of perplex.

Words near perplexes in the dictionary

  1. perplexed
  2. perplexedly
  3. perplexedness
  4. perplexer
  5. perplexers
  6. perplexes
  7. perplexest
  8. perplexeth
  9. perplexful
  10. perplexing
  11. perplexingly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: perplexes (page history and authors); perplex (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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