i recently learned that the word "bemused" means "confused or bewildered," and not "amused and confused," which is what i thought it meant my whole life. but every time i encounter it in the wild it seems to be used the second way. however, i can't know this for certain. so
how do you interpret "bemused"?
amused/confused combo
confused
amused
something else
this is a new word for me
it means both!
ok this is wild because i checked several different sites and merriam webster is the ONLY site I can find this definition on. everything else just says confused. i even found a reddit post of people complaining about the word being incorrectly used to mean amused. which begs the question: why? is this a recent definition? maybe brought on by the proliferation of incorrect usage, making merriam add it as a new definition? how come none of the other dictionaries have agreed? im actually fascinated by this
NYT article from 2008
this pretty much confirms that the meaning has evolved! now the question is, if this article is from 2008 why are the dictionaries (other than merriam webster) so far behind
