# confuse

Pronunciation: US say "kuhn-FYOOZ" /kənˈfjuːz/; UK

## Verb

1. To puzzle or bewilder someone, especially by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise hard to understand.
   - Simple: To make someone unable to think clearly or understand something.
   - _The conflicting reports only served to confuse the investigators._
   - _The lecturer's vague answers confused most of the students._
2. To mix one thing up with another, or to mistake one thing for another.
   - Simple: To mistake one thing for another, or mix two things up in your mind.
   - _Tourists frequently confuse the two museums because their names are so similar._
   - _He confused the salt for sugar and ruined the whole batch._
3. To mix thoroughly so that all order breaks down; to throw into disorder.
   - Simple: To mix things together so they lose their order.
   - _The flood confused the carefully sorted records into a single sodden heap._
   - _Careless handling can confuse the colored threads beyond sorting._
4. To become or be in a state of confusion.
   - Simple: To become unable to think clearly.
   - _My grandfather confuses easily these days, so we keep his medication schedule as simple as possible._
   - _Drivers tend to confuse at intersections where the signs contradict each other._

## Verb

5. To make someone feel uneasy and ashamed; to embarrass. *(dated)*
   - Simple: To make someone feel uneasy and ashamed.
   - _Their warm praise confused him so much that he looked away._
   - _Open compliments tend to confuse her into an awkward silence._
6. To rout or utterly defeat; to throw an enemy into disorder. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To defeat an enemy completely and throw them into disorder.

## Adjective

7. Bewildered; in a muddled or disordered state of mind. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Mixed up and unable to think clearly.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–6** — A back-formation from 'confused', which came from Middle English 'confused' ('frustrated, ruined'), from Anglo-Norman 'confus', from Latin 'cōnfūsus', the past participle of 'cōnfundō'.
**Meaning 7** — From Middle English 'confus', from Old French 'confus', from Latin 'cōnfūsus', the past participle of 'cōnfundō'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/confuse (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).