conflate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
conflates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
conflated,
past participle, past
-
conflating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
conflatesimple
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conflatessimple
-
have conflatedperfect
-
has conflatedperfect
-
am conflatingprogressive
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are conflatingprogressive
-
is conflatingprogressive
-
have been conflatingperfect progressive
-
has been conflatingperfect progressive
Past
-
conflatedsimple
-
had conflatedperfect
-
was conflatingprogressive
-
were conflatingprogressive
-
had been conflatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of conflate
First recorded in 1600–10; from Latin conflātus “fused together,” past participle of conflāre “to fuse together,” from con- con- + flāre “to blow” ( see also blow 2)
Explanation
Conflate is a more formal way to say "mix together," and it's typically used for texts or ideas. You probably wouldn't say you conflated the ingredients for a cake, but if you blended two different stories together to make a new one, conflate would work. The verb conflate comes to us from the Latin word conflare, which literally means "to blow together." So think of using this word when you want to talk about two things getting thrown together and combined. Things that have been conflated often seem mixed up or confused. In fact, this word is also now sometimes used to mean "confuse or mix up."
Vocabulary lists containing conflate
Power Prefix: con-
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100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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Four Power Prefixes: anti-, con-, inter-, and uni-.
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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.
See Examples For:
Whether you feel a moral obligation is a deeply personal choice, but you should not conflate compassion with unlimited responsibility.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
Law professors and pundits often conflate these things, but they are not the same.
From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2026
Don’t conflate Fama and his merry band of economists at the business school with the Chicago School of Economics, practitioners in the university’s economics department led by another Nobel laureate, Milton Friedman.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
You see this sort of language used when people conflate various definitions of globalism.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
Sometimes again the Codex Zographensis is alone in curious readings which seem to be conflations of the texts found in the other two manuscripts, or based on a conflate Greek text.
From A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Vol. II. by Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener
Kenyan civil servant Geoffrey Mosiria called for the series to be banned in Kenya, arguing that it conflates polygamy with cheating, fraud and abuse.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The backlash, though, often conflates flawed implementation with a flawed idea.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 26, 2025
The criticism of the city conflates those, and that bothers me from a moral perspective.
From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2025
Not all are alike, but the average person conflates the terms.
From Salon ● Dec. 6, 2024
This anecdote conflates the psychedelic trip that his character undergoes with the actor himself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2024
Roasts are often conflated with competition, but that’s not what “Queer Roast” is.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
He conflated this with Greece’s S-300s, acquired in the 1990s to resolve a dispute over Cyprus, long before the relevant U.S. sanctions were adopted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
That brings the question back to Powell’s board seat, and understanding it requires separating two roles that are easily conflated.
From Barron's ● Mar. 18, 2026
He has embarrassingly conflated Iraq and Iran, and backpedaled on whether the U.S. is at war, but he has never shied away from a cable news hit.
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026
It is likely that he conflated two or three in Revere’s portrait.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
“There’s something fun about conflating the physical aches and pains of middle age with the more metaphysical aches and pains of middle age,” says Tropper.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
The firm said Barron’s reporting could be conflating distinct matters.
From Barron's ● Jan. 30, 2026
Legal authority and moral or civic wisdom aren’t the same thing, and conflating the two only deepens division and erodes trust.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
You’re conflating two different problems: hackers and hardware.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 28, 2025
But I always hear myself displacing the two languages, conflating them—maybe conflagrating them—for there’s so much rubbing and friction, a fire always threatens to blow up between the tongues.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
