transitive verb
-·flat′ed, -·flat′ing to combine or mix (two variant readings into a single text, etc.)
Origin of conflate
from Classical Latin conflare: see conflationconflate
con·flate
verb
To conflate is to combine two or more things into one.
When you blend two or more different colors together, this is an example of a time when you conflate.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"conflate." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Conflate>.
APA Style
conflate. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Conflate
conflate
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"conflate." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Conflate>.
APA Style
conflate. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Conflate
conflate
transitive verb
con·flat·ed, con·flat·ing, con·flates- To bring together; meld or fuse: “The problems [with the biopic] include … dates moved around, lovers deleted, many characters conflated into one” ( Ty Burr )
- To combine (two variant texts, for example) into one whole.
- To fail to distinguish between; confuse. See Usage Note below.
Origin of conflate
Latin cōnflāre cōnflāt- com- com- flāre to blow ; see bhlē- in Indo-European roots.Related Forms:
- con·fla′tion
noun
Usage Note: Traditionally, conflate means “To bring together; meld or fuse,” as in the sentence I have trouble differentiating Jane Austen's heroines; I realized I had conflated Elizabeth Bennet and Emma Woodhouse into a single character in my mind. In our 2015 survey, 87 percent of the Usage Panelists accepted this traditional usage. Recently, a new sense for conflate has emerged, meaning “To mistake one thing for another,” as if it were a synonym for confuse. In 2015, our usage panelists found this new sense to be marginally acceptable, with 55 percent accepting the sentence People often conflate the national debt with the federal deficit; when the senator talked about reducing the debt, he was actually referring to the deficit.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"conflate." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Conflate>.
APA Style
conflate. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Conflate
Verb
(third-person singular simple present conflates, present participle conflating, simple past and past participle conflated)
Adjective
(not comparable)
- (biblical criticism) Combining elements from multiple versions of the same text.
Noun
(plural conflates)
- (biblical criticism) A conflate text.
Origin
1541 : from Latin cōnflātus, from cōnflō (“fuse, melt, or blow together”); cōn (“with, together”) + flō (“blow”).
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"conflate." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Conflate>.
APA Style
conflate. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Conflate
