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Stymie vs Baffle - What's the difference?

stymie | baffle | Related terms |

Stymie is a related term of baffle.


As nouns the difference between stymie and baffle

is that stymie is an obstacle or obstruction while baffle is a device used to dampen the effects of such things as sound, light, or fluid specifically, a baffle is a surface which is placed inside an open area to inhibit direct motion from one part to another, without preventing motion altogether.

As verbs the difference between stymie and baffle

is that stymie is to thwart or stump; to cause to fail or to leave hopelessly puzzled, confused, or stuck while baffle is (obsolete) to publicly disgrace, especially of a recreant knight.

stymie

English

Alternative forms

* stimy, stymy

Noun

(en noun)
  • An obstacle or obstruction.
  • (golf) A situation where an opponent's ball is directly in the way of one's own ball and the hole, on the putting green.
  • Verb

    (d)
  • To thwart or stump; to cause to fail or to leave hopelessly puzzled, confused, or stuck.
  • They had lost the key, and the lock stymied the first three locksmiths they called.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2007, date=January 21, author=Joyce Cohen, title=Beauty in the Eye of the Renter, work=New York Times citation
  • , passage=I was making such a drama in my head it was stymieing me. }}

    baffle

    English

    Verb

    (baffl)
  • (obsolete) To publicly disgrace, especially of a recreant knight.
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.7:
  • He by the heeles him hung upon a tree, / And baffuld so, that all which passed by / The picture of his punishment might see […].
  • (obsolete) To hoodwink or deceive (someone).
  • (Barrow)
  • To bewilder completely; to confuse or perplex.
  • I am baffled by the contradictions and omissions in the instructions.
  • * Prescott
  • calculations so difficult as to have baffled , until within a recent period, the most enlightened nations
  • * John Locke
  • The mere intricacy of a question should not baffle us.
  • * Cowper
  • the art that baffles time's tyrannic claim
  • * South
  • a suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all
  • To struggle in vain.
  • A ship baffles with the winds.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A device used to dampen the effects of such things as sound, light, or fluid. Specifically, a baffle is a surface which is placed inside an open area to inhibit direct motion from one part to another, without preventing motion altogether.
  • Tanker trucks use baffles to keep the liquids inside from sloshing around.
  • An architectural feature designed to confuse enemies or make them vulnerable.