- 1 confuse somebody to make somebody unable to think clearly or understand something They confused me with conflicting accounts of what happened. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbcompletely, really, thoroughly, … See full entry
- 2 confuse A and/with B to think wrongly that somebody/something is somebody/something else synonym mix up People often confuse me and my twin sister. Be careful not to confuse quantity with quality. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbeasily prepositionfor, with See full entry
- 3 confuse something to make a subject more difficult to understand His comments only served to confuse the issue further. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbcompletely, really, thoroughly, … See full entry Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘rout, bring to ruin’): from Old French confus, from Latin confusus, past participle of confundere ‘mingle together’. Originally all senses of the verb were passive, and therefore appeared only as the past participle confused; the active voice occurred rarely until the 19th cent. when it began to replace confound.Extra examples I sometimes confuse Jane with her sister. I will try to be brief and avoid further confusing the issue. Seeing the two of them together totally confused me. The condition can sometimes be confused for influenza. They have deliberately confused the general public with their claims. You can easily confuse the two paintings. An apology for something should not be confused with genuine remorse. Doctors love to confuse us with obscure Latin names and terms. His latest comments only serve to confuse the issue further. Just to confuse matters, they have decided to give all the streets new names. The Tasmanian wolf is not to be confused with the dingo. There are too many different rules confusing the situation. These instructions confused everyone.
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BrE BrE//kənˈfjuːz//; NAmE NAmE//kənˈfjuːz//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they confuse BrE BrE//kənˈfjuːz//; NAmE NAmE//kənˈfjuːz//
he / she / it confuses BrE BrE//kənˈfjuːzɪz//; NAmE NAmE//kənˈfjuːzɪz//
past simple confused BrE BrE//kənˈfjuːzd//; NAmE NAmE//kənˈfjuːzd//
past participle confused BrE BrE//kənˈfjuːzd//; NAmE NAmE//kənˈfjuːzd//
-ing form confusing BrE BrE//kənˈfjuːzɪŋ//; NAmE NAmE//kənˈfjuːzɪŋ//
Check pronunciation: confuse
