conflate

English

WOTD – 5 May 2008

Etymology

Attested since 1541: from Latin cōnflātus, past passive participle of cōnflō (“fuse, kindle, blow together”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kənˈfleɪt/, /kɒnˈfleɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kənˈfleɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪt

Verb

conflate (third-person singular simple present conflates, present participle conflating, simple past and past participle conflated)

1. To combine or mix together.

   Synonyms: mix, blend, coalesce, commingle, flux, immix, merge, amalgamate, fuse, meld

2. (by extension) To fail to properly distinguish or keep separate (things); to mistakenly treat (them) as equivalent.

   Synonyms: confuse, mix up, lump together

   “Bacon was Lord Chancellor of England and the first European to experiment with gunpowder.” — “No, you are conflating Francis Bacon and Roger Bacon.”

3. (by extension) To deliberately draw a false equivalence or association, typically in a tacit or implicit manner as propaganda and/or an intentional distortion or misrepresentation of the subject matter.
   • 2022 September 12, Deidre McPhillips, “Critiques mount around popular annual college rankings”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     “We must stop conflating selectivity with excellence. We must stop correlating prestige with privilege,” he said.

Derived terms

• conflatable
• conflation
• deconflate
• deconflation
• reconflate
• unconflated

Translations

to fuse into a single entity

• Catalan: fusionar (ca), unir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 合併 / 合并 (zh) (hébìng)

• Czech: sjednotit pf, smíchat pf, propojit pf, spojit (cs) pf, sloučit pf
• Danish: sammenføje
• Dutch: samenvoegen (nl), verbinden (nl)
• Esperanto: kunfandi
• Estonian: kokku sulatama
• Finnish: yhdistää (fi), liittää (fi)
• French: amalgamer (fr), assembler (fr), fusionner (fr), confondre (fr)
• Galician: amalgamar (gl), fusionar
• German: verbinden (de), vereinigen (de), verschmelzen (de)
• Hungarian: egyesít (hu)
• Japanese: 合成する (ja) (gōsē suru)
• Polish: połączyć (pl)
• Portuguese: unir (pt), juntar (pt), fundir (pt)
• Romanian: contopi (ro), amalgama (ro), fuziona (ro)
• Russian: соединя́ть (ru) (sojedinjátʹ), объединя́ть (ru) (obʺjedinjátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: sjediniti (sh)
• Spanish: amalgamar (es), unir (es), fusionar (es), englobar (es), conflar, conflacionar
• Swedish: sammanfoga (sv)
• Turkish: birleştirmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: поєднувати (pojednuvaty)

to mix together different elements

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 混合 (zh) (hǔnhé)

• Czech: smíchat pf
• Esperanto: intermiksi
• Finnish: sekoittaa (fi), yhdistää (fi), sotkea (fi)
• Hungarian: összekombinál (hu), összeollóz (hu), egybeolvaszt (hu), összeolvaszt (hu)
• Japanese: 融合する (ja) (yūgō suru)
• Portuguese: misturar (pt)
• Romanian: amesteca (ro), amalgama (ro)
• Swedish: sammanfläta (sv)
• Ukrainian: зливати (zlyvaty), змішувати (zmišuvaty)

to fail to properly distinguish things or keep them separate; mistakenly treat them as equivalent

• Catalan: confondre (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 混同 (zh) (hùntóng)

• Danish: forveksle
• Esperanto: misdistingi
• Finnish: sekoittaa (fi), sotkea (fi)
• French: confondre (fr)
• German: verwechseln (de)
• Hungarian: összetéveszt (hu), összekever (hu)
• Italian: confondere (it)
• Japanese: 混同する (ja) (kondō suru); ごちゃごちゃにする (gocha-gocha ni suru); ごちゃにする (gocha ni suru); ごちゃ混ぜにする (gochamaze ni suru); 一緒くたにする (isshokuta ni suru); 一括りにする (hitokukuri ni suru)
• Portuguese: confundir (pt), equiparar (pt)
• Romanian: confunda (ro)
• Russian: путать (ru) impf (putatʹ)
• Spanish: confundir (es), asimilar (es)
• Swedish: förväxla (sv)
• Ukrainian: плутати impf (plutaty)

Adjective

conflate (not comparable)

1. (biblical criticism) Combining elements from multiple versions of the same text.
   • 1999, Emanuel Tov, The Greek and Hebrew Bible: Collected Essays on the Septuagint:

     Why the redactor created this conflate version, despite its inconsistencies, is a matter of conjecture.

Noun

conflate (plural conflates)

1. (biblical criticism) A conflate text, one which conflates multiple version of a text together.

Anagrams

• falconet, lactofen

Latin

Verb

cōnflāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of cōnflō