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State in which the attention is called in different ways; confusion; perplexity. That ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. 1 Cor. vii. 3

Causing perplexity; distracting. "Distractive thoughts." Bp. Hall.

Distracted; perplexed. "Distraught twixt fear and pity." Spenser. As if thou wert distraught and mad with terror. Shak. To doubt betwixt our senses and our souls Which are the most distraught and full of pain. Mrs. Browning.

Confusion of the mind; agitation of the feelings; perplexity; uneasiness. Any man . . . in a state of disturbance and irritation. Burke.

om of thought, speech, or action by something which impedes or confuses mental action; to perplex; to discompose; to disconcert; as, laughter may embarrass an orator.

A state of being embarrassed; perplexity; impediment to freedom of action; entanglement; hindrance; confusion or discomposure of mind, as from not knowing what to do or to say; disconcertedness. The embarrassment which inexperienced minds have often to express themselves upon paper. W. Irving. The embarrassments tom co…

as to render extrication a bewildering difficulty; hence, metaphorically, to insnare; to perplex; to bewilder; to puzzle; as, to entangle the feet in a net, or in briers. "Entangling alliances." Washington. The difficulties that perplex men's thoughts and entangle their understandings. Locke. Allowing her to entangle…

e of being entangled; intricate and confused involution; that which entangles; intricacy; perplexity.

To trick, to perplex. [Obs.] Rom. of R.

To free, as from difficulties or perplexities; to disentangle; to disembarrass; as, to extricate a person from debt, peril, etc. We had now extricated ourselves from the various labyrinths and defiles. Eustance.

The act or process of extricating or disentangling; a freeing from perplexities; disentanglement.

Not perplexed; having a mind free from care. Bacon.

To grope about in perplexity; to seek awkwardly; as, to fumble for an excuse. Dryden. My understanding flutters and my memory fumbles. Chesterfield. Alas! how he fumbles about the domains. Wordsworth.

To check or stop; to embarrass; to perplex. [Colloq.] When you were graveled for lack of matter. Shak. The physician was so graveled and amazed withal, that he had not a word more to say. Sir T. North.

To perplex; to embarrass.

umor, I'd almost said wit. Goldsmith. A great deal of excellent humor was expended on the perplexities of mine host. W. Irving. Aqueous humor, Crystalline humor or lens, Vitreous humor. (Anat.) See Eye. -- Out of humor, dissatisfied; displeased; in an unpleasant frame of mind.

inexplicable scratching." Cowper. Their reason is disturbed; their views become vast and perplexed, to others inexplicable, to themselves uncertain. Burke.

To take by wiles, stratagem, or deceit; to involve in difficulties or perplexities; to seduce by artifice; to inveigle; to allure; to entangle. The insnaring charms Of love's soft queen. Glover.

The state or quality of being intricate or entangled; perplexity; involution; complication; complexity; that which is intricate or involved; as, the intricacy of a knot; the intricacy of accounts; the intricacy of a cause in controversy; the intricacy of a plot. Freed from intricacies, taught to live The easiest way. M…

Entangled; involved; perplexed; complicated; difficult to understand, follow, arrange, or adjust; as, intricate machinery, labyrinths, accounts, plots, etc. His style was fit to convey the most intricate business to the understanding with the utmost clearness. Addison. The nature of man is intricate. Burke.…