Confuse Confused Kənˈfjuːz Sister Extra Examples Verb Sets

• these two sets of statistics are guaranteed to confuse the public.
• they confused me with conflicting accounts of what happened.
• people often confuse me and my twin sister.
• be careful not to confuse quantity with quality.

confuse

Verb Forms

1. to make somebody unable to think clearly or understand something
• These two sets of statistics are guaranteed to confuse the public.
• They confused me with conflicting accounts of what happened.

Extra Examples

• Seeing the two of them together totally confused me.
• They have deliberately confused the general public with their claims.
• Doctors love to confuse us with obscure Latin names and terms.
• These instructions confused everyone.
2. to think wrongly that somebody/something is somebody/something else
• SYNONYM mix up
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/mix_1
• People often confuse me and my twin sister.
• Be careful not to confuse quantity with quality.
• She says that meteors breaking apart can easily be confused for UFOs.

Extra Examples

• I sometimes confuse Jane with her sister.
• You can easily confuse the two paintings.
• An apology for something should not be confused with genuine remorse.
• The Tasmanian wolf is not to be confused with the dingo.
• The condition can sometimes be confused for influenza.
3. to make a subject more difficult to understand
• His comments only served to confuse the issue further.

Extra Examples

• There are too many different rules confusing the situation.
• Just to confuse matters, they have decided to give all the streets new names.
• His latest comments only serve to confuse the issue further.
• I will try to be brief and avoid further confusing the issue.

Word Origin

• Middle 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.