flummox
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
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🗓️ 12 September 2025
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 12, 2025 is:
flummox • \FLUM-uks\ • verb
To flummox someone is to confuse or perplex them.
// The actor was easily flummoxed by last-minute changes to the script.
Examples:
“If Thursday crosswords flummox you, remember that it’s much better for your stress level to do your best and sharpen your skills than to become angry because you aren’t sure what’s going on.” — Deb Amlen, The New York Times, 11 June 2025
Did you know?
When it comes to the origins of flummox, etymologists are, well, flummoxed. No one really knows where the word comes from. The first known print use of the verb flummox appeared in Charles Dickens’ novel The Pickwick Papers in the mid-1830s, while the adjective flummoxed appeared italicized a few years earlier in a Dublin newspaper article about laborers striking against employers who oppose their rights: “Lord Cloncurry is actually flummoxed. The people refuse to work for him.” To be flummoxed by something is to be utterly confused by it—that is, to be baffled, puzzled, bewildered, completely unable to understand. Fortunately, a word can be used even if everyone is flummoxed by its etymology, and by the end of the 19th century, flummox had become quite common in both British and American English.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the Word of the Day podcast for September 12th. |
| 0:10.0 | Your first great love story is free when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.code.uk-slash-wondery. That's audible.com.com.ukes-wondery. Today's word is flummox, spelled F-L-U-M-O-X. |
| 0:29.0 | Flumix is a verb. To flummox, someone is to confuse or perplex them. Here's the word used. |
| 0:34.8 | In a sentence from the New York Times, if Thursday crosswords flummox you, |
| 0:39.3 | remember that it's much better for your stress level to do your best and sharpen your skills |
| 0:44.1 | than to become angry because you aren't sure what's going on. When it comes to the origins of the |
| 0:51.4 | word flummox, etymologists are, well, flumixed. No one really knows where the word |
| 0:56.6 | comes from. The first known print use of the verb flummox appeared in Charles Dickens' novel, |
| 1:02.5 | The Pickwick Papers, in the mid-1830s, while the adjective flummoxed appeared italicized, |
| 1:09.0 | a few years later in a Dublin newspaper article about laborers striking |
| 1:13.6 | against employers who oppose their rights. In this sentence, Lord Cloncury is actually flummoxed. The people |
| 1:21.6 | refused to work for him. To be flummoxed by something is to be utterly confused by it, that is to be baffled, puzzled, bewildered, completely unable to understand. |
| 1:32.2 | Fortunately, a word can be used even if everyone is flummoxed by its etymology, |
| 1:37.5 | and by the end of the 19th century, flummox had become quite common |
| 1:41.0 | in both British and American English. |
| 1:43.7 | With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski. |
| 1:51.1 | Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups. |
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