confuse

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈfjuːz/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːz

Etymology 1

Back-formation from confused, from Middle English confused (“frustrated, ruined”), from Anglo-Norman confus, from Latin cōnfūsus, past participle of cōnfundō.

Verb

confuse (third-person singular simple present confuses, present participle confusing, simple past and past participle confused)

1. (transitive) to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand

   It confused me when I went to the office and nobody was there, but then I realised it was Sunday.

   • 2018 August 23, Engen Tham, “Data dump: China sees surge in personal information up for sale”, in Reuters‎^[1]:

     "What confuses me is how other insurance companies knew about it," said Zhang, a 26-year-old government employee from Shandong.

   • 2025 February 1, Tami Luhby, Eric Bradner and Rene Marsh, “Federal employees confused, angered by Trump’s offer to quit”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     President Donald Trump’s offer to most federal employees to resign now and be paid through September stunned the workers who received it – angering some, confusing many and raising questions about whether the offer is even legal.

2. (transitive) To mix up, muddle up (one thing with another); to mistake (one thing for another).

   People who say "hola" to Italians are confusing Italian with Spanish.

   • 2024 January 20, Ebony Davis, “Haley questions Trump’s mental fitness after he confuses her with Nancy Pelosi”, in CNN‎^[3]:

     Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Saturday questioned Donald Trump’s mental fitness after he appeared to confuse her with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when talking about the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. […] “They’re saying he got confused. That he was talking about something else. That he was talking about Nancy Pelosi. He mentioned me multiples times in that scenario,” the former South Carolina governor added.

3. (transitive) To mix thoroughly; to confound; to disorder.

   The dense fog utterly confused traffic on the highway.

4. (transitive, dated) To make uneasy and ashamed; to embarrass.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To rout; discomfit.
6. (intransitive) To be confused.

Synonyms

• flummox
• mistake
• See also Thesaurus:confuse

Derived terms

• confuddle
• confusability
• confusable
• confusement
• confuser
• confusible
• confusopoly
• confuzzle
• coonfuse
• deconfuse
• reconfuse
• unconfuse

Related terms

• confused
• confusing
• confusion

Translations

to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder somebody

• Arabic: أَرْبَكَ (ʔarbaka), حَيَّرَ (ḥayyara)
• Azerbaijani: çaşdırmaq, çaş-baş etmək, karıxdırmaq
• Bulgarian: обърквам (bg) (obǎrkvam), смущавам (bg) (smuštavam)
• Catalan: confondre (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 讓……困惑 / 让……困惑 (ràng ... kùnhuò)

• Czech: zmást
• Danish: forvirre
• Dutch: verwarren (nl), in de war brengen, verbijsteren (nl)
• Esperanto: konfuzi
• Finnish: sekoittaa (fi), saada ymmälleen, hämätä (fi)
• French: rendre perplexe, confondre (fr), confuser (fr) (rare), confusionner (fr) (uncommon)
• Georgian: დაბნევა (dabneva)
• German: verwirren (de), konfundieren (de)
• Greek: μπερδεύω (el) (berdévo), σαστίζω (el) (sastízo)
• Hebrew: בלבל m (bilbel)
• Hungarian: összezavar (hu)
• Italian: confondere (it)
• Japanese: 混乱させる (ja) (こんらんさせる, konran saseru)
• Korean: 혼란시키다 (hollansikida)
• Macedonian: буни impf (buni)
• Maori: whakapōraru, whakapōkīkī
• Norwegian: forvirre (no)
• Old English: dwilman
• Polish: zmieszać (pl)
• Portuguese: confundir (pt)
• Quechua: arwiy
• Romanian: încurca (ro)
• Russian: пу́тать (ru) impf (pútatʹ), запу́тать (ru) pf (zapútatʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: cuir tro-chèile
• Sikkimese: དཀྲུགས (dkrugs)
• Spanish: confundir (es), barahustar (es) (dated), barajustar (es) (dated), baraustar (es) (dated)
• Swedish: förvirra (sv), förväxla (sv)
• Yiddish: צעמישן (tsemishn)

to mix up / muddle up one thing with another; to mistake one thing for another

• Belarusian: блытаць impf (blytacʹ), пераблытаць pf (pjerablytacʹ)
• Bulgarian: обърквам (bg) (obǎrkvam)
• Catalan: confondre (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 混同 (zh) (hùntóng)

• Czech: splést, zaměnit
• Danish: forveksle
• Dutch: verwisselen (nl), verwarren (nl), in de war brengen, door elkaar halen, dooreenhalen
• Esperanto: konfuzi
• Finnish: sekoittaa (fi), erehtyä (fi)
• French: confondre (fr)
• Georgian: აერევა (aereva)
• German: verwechseln (de)
• Greek: συγχέω (el) (synchéo)
• Hebrew: בלבל m (bilbel)
• Hungarian: összekever (hu), összetéveszt (hu)
• Icelandic: víxla
• Italian: confondere (it)
• Japanese: 混同する (ja) (kondō-suru)
• Kabuverdianu: baradja
• Latin: cōnfundō
• Maori: whakananu
• Norwegian: forveksle

  Bokmål: blande sammen

  Nynorsk: blande saman

• Old English: mengan
• Polish: pomylić (pl)
• Portuguese: confundir (pt)
• Russian: пу́тать (ru) impf (pútatʹ), перепу́тать (ru) pf (perepútatʹ), спу́тать (ru) pf (spútatʹ), обозна́ться (ru) pf (oboznátʹsja)
• Spanish: confundir (es)
• Swedish: förväxla (sv), blanda ihop (sv)
• Turkish: karıştırmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: плутати impf (plutaty), переплутати pf (pereplutaty)

to mix thoroughly

• Azerbaijani: qarışdırmaq (az)
• Bulgarian: размесвам (bg) (razmesvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 攪亂 / 搅乱 (zh) (jiǎoluàn)

• Dutch: verwarren (nl), in de war brengen, dooreenhalen
• Finnish: sekoittaa perusteellisesti, sotkea (fi), sekoittaa (fi)
• German: vermischen (de)
• Hungarian: összekever (hu), összekavar (hu)
• Latin: cōnfundō
• Norwegian: blande (no)
• Old English: mengan, formengan
• Portuguese: misturar (pt)
• Russian: сме́шивать (ru) (sméšivatʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: cuir tro-chèile
• Spanish: mezclar (es), confusionar
• Swedish: blanda (sv)

to embarrass

• Arabic: أَرْبَكَ (ʔarbaka)
• Bulgarian: смущавам (bg) (smuštavam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 迷惑 (zh) (míhuo)

• Danish: bringe en i forlegenhed
• Finnish: nolata (fi), saattaa hämilleen, saada hämilleen
• German: jemanden in Verlegenheit (de) f bringen
• Greek: προκαλώ αμηχανία (prokaló amichanía)
• Japanese: 混乱させる (ja) (konran-saseru)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bringe noen i forlegenhet (no) m or f

• Old English: sceamian, scendan
• Portuguese: envergonhar (pt)
• Russian: смуща́ть (ru) (smuščátʹ)

to rout — see rout

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} förvirra (sv)

See also

• discombobulate

Etymology 2

From Middle English confus, from Old French confus, from Latin cōnfūsus, past participle of cōnfundō.

Adjective

confuse (comparative more confuse, superlative most confuse)

1. (obsolete) Synonym of confused.
   • 1531, Thomas Elyot, “The Signification of a Publike Weale / and Why It Is Called in Latin Respublica”, in The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC, 1st boke, folio 2, verso:

     Moꝛe ouer take away oꝛdre from all thynges / what ſhulde than remayne? certes nothynge finally / except ſome man wolde imagine eftſones / Chaos: whiche of ſome is expounde a cõfuse mixture: […]

   • 1577, William Fulke, “An Answer of a True Christian to a Counterfait Catholike”, in Two Treatises Written against the Papistes, […], London: […] Thomas Thomas Vautrollier […], →OCLC, page 34:

     The 11. article is ſo confuſe that it is harde to bring it into any certeine numbre of demandes.

   • 1589, [George Puttenham], “Of Cesure”, in The Arte of English Poesie. […], London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, book II (The Second Booke, of Proportion Poetical), page 61:

     [T]he moſt laudable languages are alwaies moſt plaine and diſtinct, and the barbarous moſt confuſe and indiſtinct: […]

   • 1737, Daniel Waterland, “Of the Consecration of the Elements of Bread and Wine in the Holy Communion”, in A Review of the Doctrine of the Eucharist, as Laid Down in Scripture and Antiquity, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Corn[elius] Crownfield, Printer to the University, and W[illiam] Innys […], →OCLC, page 127:

     It was all one with them to ſay, in a confuſe general way, either that the Holy Ghoſt ſanctiſied the Receivers, in the uſe of the outward Symbols, or that He ſanctified the Symbols to their uſe: […]

Derived terms

• confusely

References

• “confuse”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “confuse”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.fyz/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

Adjective

confuse

1. feminine singular of confus

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /konˈfu.ze/
• Rhymes: -uze
• Hyphenation: con‧fù‧se

Etymology 1

Participle

confuse f pl

1. feminine plural of confuso

Adjective

confuse f pl

1. feminine plural of confuso

Etymology 2

Verb

confuse

1. third-person singular past historic of confondere

Latin

Participle

cōnfūse

1. vocative masculine singular of cōnfūsus

References

• “confuse”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “confuse”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "confuse", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “confuse”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.