confusion
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
confusion
n 1: disorder resulting from a failure to behave predictably;
"the army retreated in confusion"
2: a mental state characterized by a lack of clear and orderly
thought and behavior; "a confusion of impressions" [syn:
{confusion}, {mental confusion}, {confusedness}, {muddiness},
{disarray}]
3: a feeling of embarrassment that leaves you confused [syn:
{confusion}, {discombobulation}]
4: an act causing a disorderly combination of elements with
identities lost and distinctions blended; "the confusion of
tongues at the Tower of Babel"
5: a mistake that results from taking one thing to be another;
"he changed his name in order to avoid confusion with the
notorious outlaw" [syn: {confusion}, {mix-up}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Confusion \Con*fu"sion\, n. [F. confusion, L. confusio.]
1. The state of being mixed or blended so as to produce
indistinctness or error; indistinct combination; disorder;
tumult.
[1913 Webster]
The confusion of thought to which the Aristotelians
were liable. --Whewell.
[1913 Webster]
Moody beggars starving for a time
Of pellmell havoc and confusion. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. The state of being abashed or disconcerted; loss
self-possession; perturbation; shame.
[1913 Webster]
Confusion dwelt in every face
And fear in every heart. --Spectator.
[1913 Webster]
3. Overthrow; defeat; ruin.
[1913 Webster]
Ruin seize thee, ruthless king,
Confusion on thy banners wait. --Gray.
[1913 Webster]
4. One who confuses; a confounder. [Obs.] --Chapmen.
[1913 Webster]
{Confusion of goods} (Law), the intermixture of the goods of
two or more persons, so that their respective portions can
no longer be distinguished. --Blackstone. --Bouvier.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
200 Moby Thesaurus words for "confusion":
abashment, agitation, aloofness, ambiguity, ambiguousness,
amorphia, amorphism, amorphousness, anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism,
anarchy, antinomianism, assortment, ataxia, babel, baffle,
bafflement, balk, bashfulness, bedlam, befuddlement, bewilderment,
blurriness, bother, botheration, chagrin, chaos, check, checkmate,
cloud, clutter, combining, commotion, confounding, confoundment,
contradiction, coyness, criminal syndicalism, daze, demureness,
demurity, derangement, destruction, devastation, diffusion,
dilemma, din, disarrangement, disarray, discombobulation,
discomfiture, discomposure, disconcert, disconcertedness,
disconcertion, disconcertment, discontinuity, discountenance,
discreteness, disjunction, dislocation, disorder, disorderliness,
disorganization, disorientation, dispersal, dispersion, disruption,
dissolution, distress, disturbance, dither, embarrassment, enigma,
entropy, fabulous formless darkness, fix, flap, flummox, flurry,
fluster, flutter, fog, foil, formlessness, foul-up, frenzy,
frustration, fuddle, fuddlement, fuzziness, gallimaufry, hassle,
havoc, haze, haziness, huddle, hullabaloo, incoherence,
inconsistency, indecisiveness, indefiniteness, indeterminateness,
intermingling, jam, jumble, lather, license, loss, lynch law, maze,
mess, messiness, misrule, mist, mistiness, misunderstanding,
mix-up, mixing, mixture, mob law, mob rule, mobocracy, morass,
mortification, mousiness, muck, muddle, muddlement, mystery,
nihilism, nonadhesion, noncohesion, nonplus, obscurity, ochlocracy,
orderlessness, pandemonium, perplexity, perturbation, pickle,
plight, pother, predicament, primal chaos, problem, pucker, puzzle,
puzzlement, quandary, rebellion, rebuff, repulse, reversal,
reverse, revolution, riddle, rout, ruffle, ruination, scattering,
scrape, screw-up, self-consciousness, separateness, setback,
shambles, shamefacedness, shamefastness, shapelessness, shuffle,
shyness, skittishness, snafu, snarl, stagefright, stammering, stew,
sweat, swivet, syndicalism, timidity, timidness, timorousness,
tizzy, tohubohu, tumult, turbulence, turmoil, unadherence,
unadhesiveness, unassuredness, unclearness, unease, uneasiness,
unruliness, unsettlement, untenacity, upset, vagueness
[email protected]