con·fuse
Audio Help [kuh
n-fyooz] Pronunciation Key
—Related forms
Audio Help [kuh
n-fyooz] Pronunciation Key –verb (used with object), -fused, -fus·ing.
| 1. | to perplex or bewilder: The flood of questions confused me. |
| 2. | to make unclear or indistinct: The rumors and angry charges tended to confuse the issue. |
| 3. | to fail to distinguish between; associate by mistake; confound: to confuse dates; He always confuses the twins. |
| 4. | to disconcert or abash: His candor confused her. |
| 5. | to combine without order; jumble; disorder: Try not to confuse the papers on the desk. |
| 6. | Archaic. to bring to ruin or naught. |
[Origin: back formation from confused (since early 19th century), ME confused < AF confus (with -ed -ed2 maintaining participial sense) < L confūsus, ptp. of confundere; see confound
]
] —Related forms
con·fus·a·ble, adjective
con·fus·a·bil·i·ty, noun
con·fus·a·bly, adverb
con·fus·ed·ness, noun
—Synonyms 1. mystify, nonplus. 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. 4. mortify, shame. 5. disarray, disarrange, disturb.
| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
Confused
To learn more about Confused visit Britannica.com
| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
| con·fuse
Audio Help (kən-fyōōz') Pronunciation Key
v. con·fused, con·fus·ing, con·fus·es v. tr.
v. intr. To make something unclear or incomprehensible: a new tax code that only further confuses. [Middle English confusen, from Old French confus, perplexed, from Latin cōnfūsus, past participle of cōnfundere, to mix together; see confound.] con·fus'a·ble adj., con·fus'ing·ly adv. Synonyms: These verbs mean to cause to be unclear in mind or intent: heavy traffic that confused the driver; problems that addle my brain; a question that befuddled even the professor; was discombobulated by all of the possibilities; a complex plot line that fuddled my comprehension; a student who was muddled by endless facts and figures; behavior that really threw me. |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
| con·fused
Audio Help (kən-fyōōzd') Pronunciation Key
adj.
con·fus'ed·ly (-fyōō'zĭd-lē) adv., con·fus'ed·ness n. |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
| confused | |
adjective | |
| 1. | perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements; filled with bewilderment; "obviously bemused by his questions"; "bewildered and confused"; "a cloudy and confounded philosopher"; "just a mixed-up kid"; "she felt lost on the first day of school" |
| 2. | lacking orderly continuity; "a confused set of instructions"; "a confused dream about the end of the world"; "disconnected fragments of a story"; "scattered thoughts" |
| 3. | having lost your bearings; confused as to time or place or personal identity; "I frequently find myself disoriented when I come up out of the subway"; "the anesthetic left her completely disoriented" |
| 4. | thrown into a state of disarray or confusion; "troops fleeing in broken ranks"; "a confused mass of papers on the desk"; "the small disordered room"; "with everything so upset" [syn: broken] |
| 5. | mentally confused; unable to think with clarity or act intelligently; "the flood of questions left her bewildered and confused" [ant: clear-thinking] |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
conˈfused1 adjective
mixed up
Example: The message I received was rather confused.
conˈfused2 adjectiveExample: The message I received was rather confused.
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mixed up in the mind
Example: in a confused state of mind
See also: confuseExample: in a confused state of mind
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| Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd. |
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