Synonyms

conflate

American

[kuhn-fleyt] / kənˈfleɪt /

verb (used with object)

conflated, conflating

to fuse into one entity; merge.

to conflate dissenting voices into one protest.

conflate British

/ kənˈfleɪt /

verb

(tr) to combine or blend (two things, esp two versions of a text) so as to form a whole

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

conflation noun

Etymology

Origin of conflate

First recorded in 1600–10; from Latin conflātus “fused together,” past participle of conflāre “to fuse together,” from con- con- + flāre “to blow” ( blow ² )

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It’s easy to conflate this with laziness or thoughtlessness.

From MarketWatch

When shark sightings, encounters and bites all get conflated under the catchall umbrella of an "attack", the danger seems greater than it is.

From BBC

Legal authority and moral or civic wisdom aren’t the same thing, and conflating the two only deepens division and erodes trust.

From The Wall Street Journal

He said Maccabi fans had just pulled down one flag the night before the Amsterdam game and that some of West Midlands Police's evidence "conflated" different things.

From BBC

It said the researchers relied on an outdated and narrow data set to reach unwarranted conclusions, and conflated correlation with causation.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023