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Added 10 October 2026

flummox

/ˈflʌməks/ verb

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about flummox at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To confuse; to fluster; to flabbergast.
To give in, to give up, to collapse.

Origin

Uncertain, probably risen out of a British dialect (OED finds candidate words in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, southern Cheshire, and Sheffield). The formation seems to be onomatopœic, expressive of the notion of throwing down roughly and untidily. [OED]. First use appears c. 1837 in the writings of Charles Dickens.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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