CONFUSION

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does confusion mean? 

• CONFUSION (noun)
  The noun CONFUSION has 5 senses:

1. disorder resulting from a failure to behave predictably

2. a mental state characterized by a lack of clear and orderly thought and behavior

3. a feeling of embarrassment that leaves you confused

4. an act causing a disorderly combination of elements with identities lost and distinctions blended

5. a mistake that results from taking one thing to be another

  Familiarity information: CONFUSION used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONFUSION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Disorder resulting from a failure to behave predictably

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

the army retreated in confusion

Hypernyms ("confusion" is a kind of...):

disorder (a disturbance of the peace or of public order)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "confusion"):

demoralisation; demoralization (a state of disorder and confusion)

bluster (noisy confusion and turbulence)

bedlam; chaos; pandemonium; topsy-turvydom; topsy-turvyness (a state of extreme confusion and disorder)

hugger-mugger (a state of confusion)

schemozzle; shemozzle ((Yiddish) a confused situation or affair; a mess)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A mental state characterized by a lack of clear and orderly thought and behavior

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

confusedness; confusion; disarray; mental confusion; muddiness

Context example:

a confusion of impressions

Hypernyms ("confusion" is a kind of...):

cognitive state; state of mind (the state of a person's cognitive processes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "confusion"):

disorientation (confusion (usually transient) about where you are and how to proceed; uncertainty as to direction)

distraction (mental turmoil)

daze; fog; haze (confusion characterized by lack of clarity)

half-cock (confusion resulting from lack of preparation)

jamais vu (the experience of being unfamiliar with a person or situation that is actually very familiar; associated with certain types of epilepsy)

bafflement; befuddlement; bemusement; bewilderment; mystification; obfuscation; puzzlement (confusion resulting from failure to understand)

perplexity (trouble or confusion resulting from complexity)

Derivation:

confuse (be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A feeling of embarrassment that leaves you confused

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

confusion; discombobulation

Hypernyms ("confusion" is a kind of...):

embarrassment (the shame you feel when your inadequacy or guilt is made public)

Derivation:

confuse (cause to feel embarrassment)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An act causing a disorderly combination of elements with identities lost and distinctions blended

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel

Hypernyms ("confusion" is a kind of...):

combination; combining; compounding (the act of combining things to form a new whole)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "confusion"):

babel (a confusion of voices and other sounds)

Derivation:

confuse (assemble without order or sense)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A mistake that results from taking one thing to be another

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

confusion; mix-up

Context example:

he changed his name in order to avoid confusion with the notorious outlaw

Hypernyms ("confusion" is a kind of...):

error; fault; mistake (a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention)

Derivation:

confuse (mistake one thing for another)

 Context examples 

The unexpected had swept its wizardry over the face of things, changing the perspective, juggling values, and shuffling the real and the unreal into perplexing confusion.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“That’s just it,” she began eagerly, and broke off in sudden confusion.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

They were alert and active, anxious that the work should go well, and fiercely irritable with whatever, by delay or confusion, retarded that work.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

I stooped in some confusion and began to pick up the fruit, understanding for some reason my companion desired me to take the blame upon myself.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mercury started to go retrograde on October 31, set to continue until November 20, adding more confusion.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Up to two decades before people develop the characteristic memory loss and confusion caused by the disease, damaging clumps of protein start to build up in their brains.

(New Alzheimer’s Blood Test Could Detect Signs of Symptoms Decades Earlier, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

And when I began to consider that, by copulating with one of the Yahoo species I had become a parent of more, it struck me with the utmost shame, confusion, and horror.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I hired a boat directly, and we put off to her; and getting through the little vortex of confusion of which she was the centre, went on board.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

This confusion in the front of the moving pack always caused confusion in the rear.

(White Fang, by Jack London)