confuse
verbadjectivecommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//kənˈfjuːz//
- Canada//kənˈfjuz//
- Australia//kənˈfjʉːz//
to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand
verb
- 1
to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand
It confused me when I went to the office and nobody was there, but then I realised it was Sunday.
"What confuses me is how other insurance companies knew about it," said Zhang, a 26-year-old government employee from Shandong.
President Donald Trump’s offer to most federal employees to resign now and be paid through September stunned the workers who received it – angering some, confusing many and raising questions about whether the offer is even legal.
- 2
To mix up, muddle up (one thing with another); to mistake (one thing for another).
People who say "hola" to Italians are confusing Italian with Spanish.
- 3
To mix thoroughly; to confound; to disorder.
The dense fog utterly confused traffic on the highway.
- 4
datedTo make uneasy and ashamed; to embarrass.
- 5
obsoleteTo rout; discomfit.
- 6
To be confused.
Etymology
Back-formation from confused, from Middle English confused (“frustrated, ruined”), from Anglo-Norman confus, from Latin cōnfūsus, past participle of cōnfundō.
adjective
- 1
obsoleteSynonym of confused.
Moꝛe ouer take away oꝛdre from all thynges / what ſhulde than remayne? certes nothynge finally / except ſome man wolde imagine eftſones / Chaos: whiche of ſome is expounde a cõfuse mixture: […]
The 11. article is ſo confuſe that it is harde to bring it into any certeine numbre of demandes.
[T]he moſt laudable languages are alwaies moſt plaine and diſtinct, and the barbarous moſt confuſe and indiſtinct: […]
It was all one with them to ſay, in a confuſe general way, either that the Holy Ghoſt ſanctiſied the Receivers, in the uſe of the outward Symbols, or that He ſanctified the Symbols to their uſe: […]
Etymology
From Middle English confus, from Old French confus, from Latin cōnfūsus, past participle of cōnfundō.
Forms
- comparative
- more confuse
- superlative
- most confuse
- past tense
- confused
- past participle
- confused
- present participle
- confusing
- third person singular
- confuses
confuse · to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand
confused · unable to think clearly or understandconfusing · difficult to understand; not clear as lacking order, chaotic,…confusion · A lack of clarity or order.