conflate

verb

con·flate kən-ˈflāt

conflated; conflating; conflates

Synonyms of conflate

transitive verb

: to bring together : blend

Even more often, outsiders conflate the couple, and credit them with each other's characteristics.—Alison Lurie

This unsettling book—conflating journalism, personal reportage, sociology and philosophical inquiry …—Rosemary Mahoney

: confuse

Given its name, St. Thomas in Houston has on occasion been conflated with St. Thomas in Minnesota …—David Barron

: to combine (things, such as two versions of a text) into a composite whole

For there are two substantive texts, the quarto published in 1597 and the folio in 1623. Modern editions usually conflate the pair to produce what the editor judges to be the best and most plausible hybrid.—Bill 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

be careful not to conflate gossip with real news the movie conflates documentary footage and dramatized reenactments so seamlessly and ingeniously that viewers may not know what is real and what is not

Recent Examples on the Web

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However, Justice Collins Rice determined that Ofcom misinterpreted its own rules by conflating news programs with current affairs shows. —Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 28 Feb. 2025 The claims wrongly conflated FEMA’s disaster relief fund with a different program meant to help homeless people, USA TODAY reported. —Chris Mueller, USA TODAY, 31 Jan. 2025 Now generally, running to your past for answers to present-day problems is a good way to conflate short-term comfort for long-term solutions. —Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 23 Jan. 2025 Unfortunately, recent efforts by the Biden administration to integrate indigenous knowledge into policy have sometimes conflated it with science, undermining its unique value. —James Broughel, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for conflate