Synonyms

confuse

American

[kuhn-fyooz] / kənˈfjuz /

verb (used with object)

to perplex or bewilder.

The flood of questions confused me.

Synonyms:

nonplus, mystify
to make unclear or indistinct.

The rumors and angry charges tended to confuse the issue.
to fail to distinguish between; associate by mistake; confound.

to confuse dates;
He always confuses the twins.
to disconcert or abash.

His candor confused her.

Synonyms:

shame, mortify, embarrass
to combine without order; jumble; disorder.

Try not to confuse the papers on the desk.

Synonyms:

disturb, disarrange, disarray
Archaic. to bring to ruin or naught.

confuse British

/ kənˈfjuːz /

verb

to bewilder; perplex
to mix up (things, ideas, etc); jumble
to make unclear

he confused his talk with irrelevant details
to fail to recognize the difference between; mistake (one thing) for another
to disconcert; embarrass
to cause to become disordered

the enemy ranks were confused by gas

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Synonym Usage

Confuse, disconcert, embarrass imply temporary interference with the clear working of one's mind. To confuse is to produce a general bewilderment: to confuse someone by giving complicated directions. To disconcert is to disturb one's mind by irritation, perplexities, etc.: to disconcert someone by asking irrelevant questions. To embarrass is to cause one to be ill at ease or uncomfortable, so that one's usual judgment and presence of mind desert one: to embarrass someone by unexpected rudeness.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of confuse

First recorded in 1300–50; from Old French confus “perplexed,” from Latin confūsus “mixed, poured,” past participle of confundere; see confound

Explanation

If you confuse two things, you are not correctly identifying them. If you confuse heartburn with a heart attack, you might end up at the emergency room instead of in the antacid aisle of the drugstore. To confuse can also mean to bewilder. If you tell a teacher that she's confusing you, you probably mean that she's being more complex than you can handle. A lot of people get confused by the differences among "their," "they're," and "there." To confuse the situation even further, there's "theirs" and "there's."

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Confuse everyone, at all times, as much as possible.

From Slate • Jul. 15, 2024

Confuse a little perhaps, but then children are confused about many things.

From Forbes • Jul. 28, 2013

Scent of Chekhov May Confuse the Senses Remember those much-parodied Calvin Klein fragrance commercials that Richard Avedon did in the mid-1980s?

From New York Times • Jan. 16, 2013

Confuse thou not my brain, distraught and desolate!

From The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 01 Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English. by Francke, Kuno

A set o' dull, conceited hashes, Confuse their brains in college classes!

From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 3 (of 12) Dresden Edition?Lectures by Ingersoll, Robert Green

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023