baffling

baffling

1. present participle and gerund of baffle

baffling (comparative more baffling, superlative most baffling)

1. Puzzling, perplexing, bewildering.
   • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 160:

     [T]he primitive concept of the generative act was one of awe and worship, accorded to a force which was incomprehensible and baffling.

   • 2021, The Guardian, baffling brexit rules threaten export chaos gove is warned, London: The Guardian:

     Ministers must restart trade negotiations with Brussels immediately to sort out the "baffling" array of post-Brexit rulesand regulations that now threaten much of the UK'sexport trade to the EU

2. frustrating

baffling (plural bafflings)

1. An act of foiling or thwarting.
   • 1831, The Quarterly Review (London):

     […] the contrast of the one determined and still triumphant will of the man, with the transient and vain bafflings of winds or waves, of gods, or monsters […]