Perplexity

/pərˈplɛksɪti/

Meaning & Definition

noun
the state of being perplexed; confusion or uncertainty.
The complexity of the problem led to a profound sense of perplexity among the team members.
a situation that is confusing or difficult to understand.
Her sudden change of plans added to his perplexity about the situation.
a measure of how predictable or understandable a dataset or probability distribution is.
The perplexity of the language model indicates how well it can predict the next word in a sentence.

Etymology

From Latin perplexitas, from perplectere, meaning 'to entangle'.

Common Phrases and Expressions

in a state of perplexity:
experiencing confusion or uncertainty.
perplexity of choices:
the complicated nature of selecting among various options.
to add to one's perplexity:
to further complicate a confusing situation.

Related Words

Slang Meanings

brain freeze
He had a brain freeze trying to understand that math problem.
mind-boggle
The plot twist was such a mind-boggle that it left everyone speechless.