perplexity

[per-plek-si-tee] /pərˈplɛk sɪ ti/
noun, plural perplexities.
1.
the state of being perplexed; confusion; uncertainty.
2.
something that perplexes:
a case plagued with perplexities.
3.
a tangled, involved, or confused condition or situation.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English perplexite < Old French < Late Latin perplexitās, equivalent to Latin perplex(us) (see perplexed) + -itās -ity
Examples from the web for perplexity
  • But in the four days since astronomers here discovered this new supernova, its behavior has caused growing scientific perplexity.
  • Sonnets that on first reading make prosaic sense can fall into perplexity on growing acquaintance.
  • The early opening of the season enabled the dealers to do a large business before the present perplexity arose.
  • Life coaches offer to help with the perplexity of bigger choices.
  • Without prompting, they wondered in sadness and perplexity what had happened to the good old days.
  • The only thing one can do is to indicate the value of the work and to show a way of approaching it with lessened perplexity.
  • My perplexity led me to bring my own way of seeing people, of seeing the world, into the book.
  • But the indirection has left contemporary critics in some perplexity.
  • Her utter candor and her current perplexity are affecting.
  • He tried to see her, sitting there in her perplexity.
British Dictionary definitions for perplexity

perplexity

/pəˈplɛksɪtɪ/
noun (pl) -ties
1.
the state of being perplexed
2.
the state of being intricate or complicated
3.
something that perplexes
Word Origin and History for perplexity
n.

c.1300, "bewilderment," from Old French perplexite "confusion, perplexity," from Late Latin perplexitatem (nominative perplexitas), from Latin perplexus "confused, involved, interwoven," from per- "completely" + plexus "entangled," past participle of plectere "to twine" (see complex (adj.)). From 1590s as "something that causes perplexity."

perplexity in Technology


The geometric mean of the number of words which may follow any given word for a certain lexicon and grammar.