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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

confuse.

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

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/kənˈfjuːz/Received-Pronunciation/kənˈfjuz/Canada, General-American/kənˈfjʉːz/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. To puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand.

    transitive
    It confused me when I went to the office and nobody was there, but then I realised it was Sunday.
  2. To mix up, muddle up (one thing with another); to mistake (one thing for another).

    transitive
    People who say "hola" to Italians are confusing Italian with Spanish.
  3. To mix thoroughly; to confound; to disorder.

    transitive
    The dense fog utterly confused traffic on the highway.
  4. To make uneasy and ashamed; to embarrass.

    dated · transitive
  5. To rout; discomfit.

    obsolete · transitive
  6. To be confused.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

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

adj/kənˈfjuːz/Received-Pronunciation/kənˈfjuz/Canada, General-American/kənˈfjʉːz/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. Synonym of confused.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

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

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.