conflate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
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.
The Founders didn’t conflate theology with virtue or believe religion has meaning without the underlying common morals it imparts.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
From a human-resources perspective, it makes little sense to effectively conflate vacation days with work-from-home days, and it also seems to run counter to promoting goodwill.
From MarketWatch • Oct. 28, 2025
He added that by declining tickets, the Israeli club "have been more responsible than those that have sought to conflate this matter".
From BBC • Oct. 21, 2025
He said the media and advocates often conflate “solitary confinement” with what he termed restrictive housing, where people are sometimes put under mental health observation, for medical reasons or during investigations.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 29, 2025
For their part, police publicly conflate all hacking crimes with robbing payphones with crowbars.
From The Hacker Crackdown, law and disorder on the electronic frontier by Sterling, Bruce
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.
