confusion
Americannoun
-
the state of being confused.
- Synonyms:
- distraction
-
disorder; upheaval; tumult; chaos.
The army retreated in confusion.
-
lack of clearness or distinctness.
a confusion in his mind between right and wrong.
-
perplexity; bewilderment.
The more difficult questions left us in complete confusion.
-
embarrassment or abashment.
He blushed in confusion.
- Synonyms:
- mortification, shame
-
Psychiatry. a disturbed mental state; disorientation.
-
Archaic. defeat, overthrow, or ruin.
noun
-
the act of confusing or the state of being confused
-
disorder; jumble
-
bewilderment; perplexity
-
lack of clarity; indistinctness
-
embarrassment; abashment
Other Word Forms
- confusional adjective
- preconfusion noun
- reconfusion noun
- superconfusion noun
Etymology
Origin of confusion
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin confūsiōn-, stem of confūsiō “disorder, mixture,” literally “a mixing,” from confūs(us) “mixed” (past participle of cōnfundere; confound ) + -iō -ion
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.
Fragmenting this system with alternative methodologies creates confusion rather than clarity.
He thought of what his grandfather would say when he returned to find both boy and griffin gone; of his confusion and anger.
From Literature
Fleetwood’s face deepens from pink to plum while the ambassador’s brow knits with confusion.
From Literature
I thought of what the travel writer Aatish Taseer wrote in his book, “A Return to Self,” about revisiting Istanbul, “the perfectly preserved repository of the hopes, ambitions and confusions of my twenty-five-year-old self.”
The kid must read the confusion on my face because he says: “Ray. Ray Delgado.”
From Literature
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.
