perplex

verb

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.”

   “The Ways of Heav’n are dark and intricate, Puzzled in Mazes, and perplext with Errors; Our Underſtanding traces ’em in vain, Loſt and bewilder’d in the fruitleſs Search; […]”

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.”

   “All night no ruder air perplex ⁠Thy sliding keel, till Phosphor, bright ⁠As our pure love, thro’ early light Shall glimmer on the dewy decks.”

adj

1. (archaic)intricate; difficult

   “How the soul directs the spirits for the motion of the body, according to the several animal exigents, is as perplex in the Theory, as either of the former.”

   “Finally, I explore possible audience interpretations of the film and offer some alternative reading strategies of these highly perplex sketches.”

noun

1. (obsolete)A difficulty.