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confused

[ kuhn-fyoozd ]
/ kənˈfyuzd /
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See synonyms for: confused / confusedly / confusedness on Thesaurus.com
adjective
not thinking coherently or rationally; bewildered; perplexed: My attempt to explain was met with confused stares and shrugging shoulders.Hopelessly confused, I just tossed my trash into what I thought was the right receptacle.
incorrectly differentiated, identified, or associated: You’re getting him confused with another player with the same name—this one plays for the Twins.In this lesson, students learn the frequently confused words their, they’re, and there.
without order; jumbled:Over time, the original neat lines of tents grew into a confused tangle of canvas-roofed shelters.What was once an imposing fortress is now just a confused heap of erect and fallen stones.
disconcerted, perturbed, or ashamed: I emerged from the office red-faced and confused.
expressed in a way that is not easily understood:The novel plods along trying to provide hopelessly confused technical detail, much of which is blatantly impossible according to the elementary laws of physics.
verb
the simple past tense and past participle of confuse.
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Origin of confused

First recorded in 1350–1400; confuse + -ed2 for the adjective senses; confuse + -ed1 for the verb sense

OTHER WORDS FROM confused

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to confused

baffled, befuddled, bewildered, dazed, disorganized, distracted, muddled, perplexed, perturbed, puzzled, chaotic, messy, abashed, addled, discombobulated, disconcerted, flummoxed, flustered, gone, misled

How to use confused in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for confused

confused
/ (kənˈfjuːzd) /
adjective
feeling or exhibiting an inability to understand; bewildered; perplexed
in a disordered state; mixed up; jumbled
lacking sufficient mental abilities for independent living, esp through old age

Derived forms of confused

confusedly (kənˈfjuːzɪdlɪ, -ˈfjuːzd-), adverbconfusedness, noun
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
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