Bamboozled

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Fooled or cheated by misleading or confusing actions
2. Made to believe something false through deception
3. Deceived by trickery or cunning manipulation

Etymology: The most striking thing about "bamboozled" is how little anyone knows about where it came from. It first appears in print in the 1700s, and the earliest records show it used in a jocular, slangy way, but nobody has traced a convincing source. Dictionaries generally treat it as of unknown origin, and the many proposed derivations (from a Scottish or dialect word meaning to confuse, or from a French or Spanish source) lack solid evidence. Its sound and feel suggest a playful coinage, and the "-zle" ending belongs to a family of English verbs such as "puzzle", "nuzzle" and "guzzle" that are often used for muddling or fumbling actions. That resemblance may explain why the word feels so natural, but it does not prove any direct link. What is clear is that the word was popular in informal English and American speech during the 1800s, when it came to mean to confuse someone or to trick them with clever talk. The surprise is that a word which sounds so old and deliberate was probably born in casual speech, and its ancestry has never been pinned down.

Synonyms: duped, tricked, deceived, fooled, misled

Antonyms: enlightened, informed, clarified, educated, guided