different between confuse vs mindfuck

English

Etymology

Back formation from Middle English confused ("frustrated, ruined"), from Anglo-Norman confus, from Latin confusus, past participle of confund?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?fju?z/
• Rhymes: -u?z

Verb

confuse (third-person singular simple present confuses, present participle confusing, simple past and past participle confused)

1. (transitive) to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand

2. (transitive) To mix up, muddle up (one thing with another); to mistake (one thing for another).

3. (transitive) To mix thoroughly; to confound; to disorder.
4. (transitive, dated) To make uneasy and ashamed; to embarrass.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To rout; discomfit.
6. (intransitive) To be confused.

Synonyms

• flummox
• mistake
• See also Thesaurus:confuse

Related terms

• confused
• confusing
• confusion

Translations

See also

• discombobulate

References

• confuse at OneLook Dictionary Search
• confuse in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.fyz/

Adjective

confuse

1. feminine singular of confus

Italian

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -uze

Verb

confuse f pl

1. feminine plural of confuso

Adjective

confuse f pl

1. feminine plural of confuso

Verb

confuse

1. third-person singular past historic of confondere

Latin

Participle

c?nf?se

1. vocative masculine singular of c?nf?sus

References

• confuse in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• confuse in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• confuse in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• confuse in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

English

Alternative forms

• mind-fuck, mind fuck

Etymology

Compound of mind +? fuck.

Pronunciation

• (US, UK) IPA^(key): /ma?nd.f?k/

Noun

mindfuck (plural mindfucks)

1. (slang, vulgar) Something that intentionally destabilizes, confuses or manipulates the mind of another person.

   Synonyms: (vulgar) brainfuck, (vulgar) headfuck, mindscrew

   • 1968 Student Union for Peace Action, Our Generation, p. 66:

     The actual naked fact of Establishment power in the person of the police was a real mindfuck.

   • 1996, Christopher Kyle, the monogamist, p. 53:

     This is a total mindfuck. I guess you know we broke up.

   • 2001, Mick Farren, Darklost, p. 311:

     It's a mindfuck. It's just lasers and shit, like the haunted house in Disneyland.

   • 2006, Ska Child, David Harris, Skavoovee, p. 106:

     The first four weeks of basic training were designed to be a total mindfuck. It started from the moment they stepped off the bus and were punished for not knowing how to stand at attention, even though they'd never been taught.

Derived terms

• mindfucker
• mindfuckery

Translations

Verb

mindfuck (third-person singular simple present mindfucks, present participle mindfucking, simple past and past participle mindfucked)

1. (slang, vulgar) To intentionally destabilize, confuse or manipulate the mind of another person.
   • 1974, Connie Brissenden, The Factory Lab Anthology, p. 10:

     Two young Canadians get mindfucked by a giant American, but they kill him in the end and then start in on each other.

   • 2003, Adam Gorightly et al., The Prankster and the Conspiracy, p. 136:

     In response to all of this Bavarian Illuminati paranoia, Kerry—in the midst of Garrison's probe — decided to mindfuck Garrison all the more by sending out suggesting that he (Kerry) was an agent of the Bavarian Illuminati.

   • 2007, Jackie Kessler, The Road to Hell, p. 67:

     I hated it when other entities mindfucked me.

Translations