Alison LurieRosemary MahoneyDavid BarronBill Overton
Did you know?
We’re not just blowing hot air when we tell you that conflate can actually be traced back to the same roots as the English verb blow. Conflate comes from conflatus, a form of the Latin verb conflare (“to blow together, to fuse”), which was formed by combining the prefix com-, meaning “with” or “together,” with the Latin verb flare, meaning “to blow.” Blow’s ancestor, the Old English word blāwan, shares an ancestor with flare. When two or more things are conflated, they are figuratively “blown together” either by someone’s confusion or ingenuity. Other descendants of flare in English include flavor, inflate, and, well, flatulent.
Examples of conflate in a Sentence
Kanishka Singh, USA Today, 19 Apr. 2025
Critics, however, have said the administration is conflating antisemitism with criticism of Israel, and that its efforts to target these universities violates free-speech rights.
—Andrew Stanton, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Apr. 2025
There are reasons for such disparities, beyond club bias or exchange rates, with value and price often being conflated.
—Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2025
Such takes ascribe an idiot savant quality to his governance style, furthered by what appears to be the presence of the Dunning-Kruger effect, in which confidence is conflated with competence.
—Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 26 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for conflate
Cite this Entry
“Conflate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conflate. Accessed 8 May. 2025.
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