confuse

con·fuse

Use confuse in a sentence

verb

To confuse is to make someone bewildered or unable to understand, or to mistake one thing for something else.

When you explain something in a way that makes no sense, this is an example of a time when you confuse.
When you make a situation more complicated than it needs to be, this is an example of a time when you confuse a situation.
When you think that a black shirt looks blue, this is an example of a time when you confuse black for blue.

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"confuse." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Confuse>.

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confuse. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Confuse

confuse

transitive verb

-·fused′, -·fus′ing

to mix up; jumble together; put into disorder
to mix up mentally; specif.,
1. to bewilder; perplex
2. to embarrass; disconcert; abash
3. to fail to distinguish between; mistake the identity of

Origin of confuse

Middle English confusen from confus, perplexed from Old French from Classical Latin confusus, past participle of confundere: see confound

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MLA Style

"confuse." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Confuse>.

APA Style

confuse. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Confuse

confuse

verb

con·fused, con·fus·ing, con·fus·es

verb

transitive

a. To cause to be unable to think with clarity or act with intelligence or understanding; bewilder or perplex.
b. Archaic To cause to feel embarrassment.
a. To fail to differentiate (one person or thing) from another: confused effusiveness with affection.
b. To make more complex or difficult to understand: “The old labels … confuse debate instead of clarifying it” ( Christopher Lasch )

verb

intransitive

To make something unclear or incomprehensible: a new tax code that only confuses.

Origin of confuse

Middle English confusen from Old French confus perplexed from Latin cōnfūsus past participle of cōnfundere to mix together ; see confound .

Related Forms:

con·fus′a·ble
adjective

con·fus′ing·ly
adverb

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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Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"confuse." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Confuse>.

APA Style

confuse. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Confuse

confuse

confuse addle befuddle discombobulate fuddle muddle throw

These verbs mean to cause to be unclear in mind or intent: heavy traffic that confused the driver; problems that addle my brain; a question that befuddled even the professor; was discombobulated by all of the possibilities; a complex plot line that fuddled my comprehension; a student who was muddled by endless facts and figures; behavior that really threw me.

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.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"confuse." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Confuse>.

APA Style

confuse. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Confuse

Verb

(third-person singular simple present confuses, present participle confusing, simple past and past participle confused)

To thoroughly mix; to confound; to disorder.
To mix up; to puzzle; to bewilder.
To make uneasy and ashamed; to embarrass.
To mistake one thing for another.

Origin

Back formation from Middle English confused ("frustrated, ruined"), from Anglo-Norman confus, from Latin confusus, past participle of confundō.

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.