Dictionary Information: Definition Confuse - Description Meaning Thesaurus

Confuse (Conúfuse) (ken-fyz1) v.
conúfused, conúfusúing, conúfusúes verb, transitive
[Middle English confusen, from Old French confus, perplexed, from Latin conf£sus, past participle of confundere, to mix together. See confound.]

1. a. To cause to be unable to think with clarity or act with intelligence or understanding; throw off. b. To cause to feel embarrassment.
2. a. To mistake one thing for another. b. To make opaque; blur. c. To assemble without order or sense; jumble.
3. Archaic. To bring to ruination.

Synonyms: confuse, addle, befuddle, discombobulate, fuddle, muddle, throw. The central meaning shared by these verbs is "to cause to be unclear in mind or intent": heavy traffic that confused the novice driver; problems that addle my brain; a question that befuddled even the professor; was discombobulated by the staggering number of possibilities; a plot so complex that it fuddles one's comprehension; a head that was muddled by endless facts and figures; behavior that really threw me.

Conúfuse verb, intransitive

To make something unclear or incomprehensible: a new tax code that only further confuses.

conúfusúingúly adverb