different between confuse vs numb

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

Etymology

From the past participle of nim (“to take”). Compare German benommen (“dazed, numb”). The final ?b? is a later addition to the spelling; it was never pronounced, and did not appear in the original word.

Pronunciation

• enPR: n?m, IPA^(key): /n?m/
• Rhymes: -?m

Adjective

numb (comparative number, superlative numbest)

1. Physically unable to feel, not having the power of sensation.

   Synonyms: deadened, insensible

2. Emotionally unable to feel or respond in a normal way.

   numb with shock; numb with boredom

   • 1915, Nellie McClung, In Times Like These, Toronto: McLeod & Allen, Chapter 2,^[1]

     […] when we know that hundreds are rendered homeless every day, and countless thousands are killed and wounded, men and boys mowed down like a field of grain, and with as little compunction, we grow a little bit numb to human misery.

   • 1966, Truman Capote, In Cold Blood, New York: Modern Library, 1992, Part One, p. 77,^[2]

     […] seeing the dog—somehow that made me feel again. I’d been too dazed, too numb, to feel the full viciousness of it.

   • 2016, Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time, Random House Canada, Part Three,^[3]

     […] he submitted […] as a traitor, his mind numb with vodka, submits to a firing squad.

   Synonym: stunned

3. (obsolete) Causing numbness.
   • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act II, Scene 1,^[4]

     […] he did lap me

     Even in his own garments, and gave himself,

     All thin and naked to the numb cold night.

Antonyms

• sensible, sensitive

Derived terms

Related terms

• numskull

Translations

Verb

numb (third-person singular simple present numbs, present participle numbing, simple past and past participle numbed)

1. (transitive) To cause to become numb (physically or emotionally).

   Synonym: benumb

2. (transitive) To cause (a feeling) to be less intense.
   • 1861, Elizabeth Gaskell, “The Grey Woman” in The Grey Woman and Other Tales, London: Smith, Elder & Co.,^[5]

     [I was] thankful for the pain, which helped to numb my terror.

   Synonym: dull

3. (transitive) To cause (the mind, faculties, etc.) to be less acute.
   • 1912, Saki, “The Hounds of Fate” in The Chronicles of Clovis, London: John Lane, p. 219,^[6]

     […] hunger, fatigue, and despairing hopelessness had numbed his brain […]

   • 1927, Hugh Lofting, Doctor Dolittle’s Garden, Part Four, Chapter 6,^[7]

     The noise, the rush of air past our ears, was positively terrific. It actually seemed to numb the senses and make it almost impossible to take in impressions at all.

   • 2004, Cory Doctorow, Eastern Standard Tribe, Chapter 13,^[8]

     [The sofa] exhaled a breath of trapped ancient farts, barf-smell, and antiseptic, the parfum de asylum that gradually numbed my nose to all other scents on the ward.

   Synonym: dull

4. (intransitive) To become numb (especially physically).
   • 1918, Lewis R. Freeman, Many Fronts, London: John Murray, “Wonders of the Teleferica,” p. 270,^[9]

     […] after fumbling with numbing fingers for ten or fifteen minutes, he waved his hand with a gesture of despair […]

   • 1919, Arthur Murray Chisholm, The Land of Strong Men, New York: H.K. Fly, Chapter 18,^[10]

     […] once more his feet began to numb. Again he got down and stamped the circulation going, but as soon as he began to ride again they numbed.

Derived terms

• mind-numbing

Translations