Confusion resulting from failure to understand.

synonyms: bafflement, befuddlement, bemusement, bewilderment, obfuscation, puzzlement.

Roget 477: intuition, instinct, association, hunch, gut feeling; presentiment, premonition; rule of thumb; superstition; astrology^†; faith (supposition) 514.    sophistry, paralogy^†, perversion, casuistry, jesuitry, equivocation, evasion; chicane, chicanery; quiddet^†, quiddity; mystification; special pleading; speciousness etc. adj.; nonsense etc. 497; word sense, tongue sense.    false reasoning, vicious reasoning, circular reasoning; petitio principii [Lat.], ignoratio elenchi [Lat.]; post hoc ergo propter hoc [Lat.]; non sequitur, ignotum per ignotius [Lat.].    misjudgment etc. 481; false teaching etc. 538.    sophism, solecism, paralogism^†; quibble, quirk, elenchus^†, elench^†, fallacy, quodlibet, subterfuge, subtlety, quillet^†; inconsistency, antilogy^†; a delusion, a mockery, and a snare" [Denman]; claptrap, cant, mere words; lame and impotent conclusion" [Othello]. meshes of sophistry, cobwebs of sophistry; flaw in an argument; weak point, bad case.    overrefinement^†; hairsplitting etc. v.. ... show more

Roget 519: unintelligibility; incomprehensibility, imperspicuity^†; inconceivableness, vagueness etc. adj.; obscurity; ambiguity etc. 520; doubtful meaning; uncertainty etc. 475; perplexity etc. (confusion) 59; spinosity^†; obscurum per obscurius [Lat.]; mystification etc. (concealment) 528; latency etc. 526; transcendentalism.    paradox, oxymoron; riddle, enigma, puzzle etc. (secret) 533; diagnus vindice nodus [Lat.]; sealed book; steganography^†, freemasonry.    pons asinorum [Lat.], asses' bridge; high Dutch, Greek, Hebrew; jargon etc. (unmeaning) 517.    ... show more

Roget 528: concealment; hiding etc. v.; occultation, mystification.    seal of secrecy; screen etc. 530; disguise etc. 530; masquerade; masked battery; hiding place etc. 530; cryptography, steganography^†; freemasonry.    stealth, stealthiness, sneakiness; obreption^†; slyness etc. (cunning) 702.    latitancy^†, latitation^†; seclusion etc. 893; privacy, secrecy, secretness^†; incognita.    reticence; reserve; mental reserve, reservation; arriere pensee [Fr.], suppression, evasion, white lie, misprision; silence etc. (taciturnity) 585; suppression of truth etc. 544; underhand dealing; closeness, secretiveness etc. adj.; mystery.    latency etc. 526; snake in the grass; secret etc. 533; stowaway.    ... show more

Roget 544: falsehood, falseness; falsity, falsification; deception etc. 545; untruth etc. 546; guile; lying etc. 454; untruth etc. 546; guile; lying etc. v.. misrepresentation; mendacity, perjury, false swearing; forgery, invention, fabrication; subreption^†; covin^†.    perversion of truth, suppression of truth; suppressio veri [Lat.]; perversion, distortion, false coloring; exaggeration etc. 549; prevarication, equivocation, shuffling, fencing, evasion, fraud; suggestio falsi etc. (lie) 546 [Lat.]; mystification etc. (concealment) 528; simulation etc. (imitation) 19; dissimulation, dissembling; deceit; blague^†.    sham; pretense, pretending, malingering.    lip homage, lip service; mouth honor; hollowness; mere show, mere outside; duplicity, double dealing, insincerity, hypocrisy, cant, humbug; jesuitism, jesuitry; pharisaism; Machiavelism, organized hypocrisy;" crocodile tears, mealy-mouthedness^†, quackery; charlatanism^†, charlatanry; gammon; bun-kum^†, bumcombe, flam; bam [Slang], flimflam, cajolery, flattery; Judas kiss; perfidy etc. (bad faith) 940; il volto sciolto i pensieri stretti [It].    unfairness etc. (dishonesty) 940; artfulness etc. (cunning) 702; misstatement etc. (error) 495.    ... show more

Dutch: verdwaasdheid, bezorgdheid, ontsteltenis, ontzetting, verbijstering

Something designed to mystify or bewilder.

The activity of obscuring people's understanding, leaving them baffled or bewildered.

synonym: obfuscation.

Polish: mistyfikatorstwo, mistyfikacja