1a. To cause to be unable to think with clarity or act with intelligence or understanding; throw off. b. To cause to feel embarrassment. 2a. To mistake (for another): confused effusiveness with affection.b. To make opaque; blur: “The old labels … confuse debate instead of clarifying it” (Christopher Lasch). c. To assemble without order or sense; jumble. 3.Archaic To bring to ruination.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:
To make something unclear or incomprehensible: a new tax code that only further confuses.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English confusen, from Old French confus, perplexed, from Latin cnfsus, past participle of cnfundere, to mix together. See confound.
OTHER FORMS:
con·fusa·ble —ADJECTIVE con·fusing·ly —ADVERB
SYNONYMS:
confuse, addle, befuddle, discombobulate, fuddle, muddle, throw 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.
k
n-fy
z
nf
sus, past participle of c
