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dazzle

verb · noun

Simple meaning

To confuse or overpower the sight of using excessive brightness.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dazuhl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈdæzəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. transitive

    To confuse or overpower the sight of (someone or something, such as a sensor) by means of excessive brightness.

  2. transitivefiguratively

    To render incapable of thinking clearly; to overwhelm with showiness or brilliance.

  3. intransitive

    To be overpowered by light; to be confused by excess of brightness.

  4. To cause someone to lose clear vision, especially from intense light

    “She was dazzled by the bright headlights.”

noun

  1. A light of dazzling brilliancy.

  2. figurative

    Showy brilliance that may stop a person from thinking clearly.

  3. uncountable

    Dazzle camouflage.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Primarily written

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To confuse or overpower the sight of (someone or something, such as a sensor) by means of excessive brightness.

Used this way, dazzle is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use dazzle

  • “She was dazzled by the bright headlights.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

razzle dazzleeyes dazzle

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • razzle-dazzlenounCompound term

    Any exciting and complex play intended to confuse (dazzle) the opponent.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.