1
as in fog
a state of mental uncertainty
the farmer's driving directions to the fairground just left us in total confusion
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in havoc
a state in which everything is out of order
it was hard to find anything in that confusion in the attic
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in embarrassment
the emotional state of being made self-consciously uncomfortable
thrown into speechless confusion by the wild accusations
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of confusion
The date for Veterans Day moved around in the 1970s, causing much confusion, so in 1975 President Gerald R. Ford signed a law to return it to the traditional day of Nov. 11, starting in 1978.
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Grace Tucker, The Enquirer, 8 Nov. 2024
Election workers acted quickly to inform voters of the changes to avoid confusion.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 6 Nov. 2024
In Cambria County, Pennsylvania — another battleground state — officials said a software malfunction kept some voters from scanning their ballots, causing confusion and long lines.
—Salvador Hernandez, Los Angeles Times, 5 Nov. 2024
In Arizona, that ruling left confusion between two conflicting laws, and temporarily stopped clinics from providing abortions as courts worked out what was legal in the state.
—Stacey Barchenger, The Arizona Republic, 5 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for confusion 
Grace Tucker, The Enquirer, 8 Nov. 2024
Election workers acted quickly to inform voters of the changes to avoid confusion.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 6 Nov. 2024
In Cambria County, Pennsylvania — another battleground state — officials said a software malfunction kept some voters from scanning their ballots, causing confusion and long lines.
—Salvador Hernandez, Los Angeles Times, 5 Nov. 2024
In Arizona, that ruling left confusion between two conflicting laws, and temporarily stopped clinics from providing abortions as courts worked out what was legal in the state.
—Stacey Barchenger, The Arizona Republic, 5 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for confusion
Recent Examples of Synonyms for confusion
Noun
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Set a gift budget In the fog of holiday shopping, no amount of spending seems quite enough.Daniel de Visé, USA TODAY, 27 Nov. 2024
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As a man estranged from his family who loses himself in his work, Law portrays Husk as someone easy to underestimate, seemingly adrift in a fog of booze and self-pity, yet driven by a professionalism who can nevertheless rise to the occasion when needed.Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2024
Noun
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Finding a way to start over The havoc from Cyclone Freddy was widespread across several countries, displacing 650,000 people from their homes in Malawi alone.Lauren Sommer, NPR, 21 Nov. 2024
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Just like hiking the Appalachian Trail, volunteers and officials agreed the repairs and cleanup after Helene’s havoc would be a complex journey for the trail’s enormous community.Graham Hurley, CNN, 20 Nov. 2024
Noun
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Boeing acquired Spirit for $8.3 billion earlier this year in large part because of a major manufacturing embarrassment.Melvin Backman, Quartz, 12 Nov. 2024
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Columnists expressed their embarrassment and anger.David Remnick, The New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2024
Noun
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The latest tangle between the parties occurred last night when Alex Soros—son of billionaire investor and entrepreneur George Soros—responded to an article about the popular vote count during the election.BYEleanor Pringle, Fortune, 20 Nov. 2024
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Prior to the opening of the trail, the site of the northern headquarters of the 40,000-acre cattle ranch operation was little more than a few acres of nameless bullet-riddled stuff wrapped in a tangle of barbed wire.Mare Czinar, The Arizona Republic, 14 Nov. 2024
Noun
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Get ready for non-stop assassin action as chaos ensues in the ordinary (and not-so-ordinary) life of Sakamoto and his comrades!Anthony D'Alessandro, Deadline, 19 Nov. 2024
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For all the nighttime bustle on display — the heave of people, the constant activity and chaos — Kapadia shoots with a flair for the illusory.Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 15 Nov. 2024
Noun
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Sense of Unease with Wealth Sometimes, entrepreneurs who sell a business and receive a huge financial windfall can feel anxious or develop a sense of unease or even guilt.Andy Busser, Forbes, 21 Nov. 2024
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Sometimes the gotcha moment in a story feels more like a knife in your gut, uncovering your own discomfort and unease.Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 11 Nov. 2024
Noun
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And that perplexity surrounding coverage may get more complicated.Kff Health News, The Mercury News, 17 July 2024
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The team’s 13-billion-parameter model achieved a perplexity score of around 9 on one dataset, versus 5 for a LLaMA model with 13 billion parameters.IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 30 May 2024
Noun
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Owners’ names now read like jumbles of computer code, retirement homes or rock bands: Silver Sage, Dream Homes, Blue Apple, P Fin VII, Wref II, 3xs2, Vivid, Straight Red Lines, TKJK, Jags Proper.Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 24 June 2024
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Think of it instead as a Rube Goldberg machine, reimagining doodles as dense jumbles of steps and if-then rules.The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 8 Mar. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near confusion
Cite this Entry
“Confusion.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/confusion. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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