different between confuse vs ruffle

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 Middle English ruffelen, perhaps from Old Norse hrufla (“to graze, scratch”) or Middle Low German ruffelen (“to wrinkle, curl”). Further origin unknown. Related to Middle Dutch ruyffelen, German Low German ruffeln. See English ruff.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???f?l/
• Rhymes: -?f?l

Noun

ruffle (plural ruffles)

1. Any gathered or curled strip of fabric added as trim or decoration.
2. Disturbance; agitation; commotion.

3. (military) A low, vibrating beat of a drum, quieter than a roll; a ruff.
4. (zoology) The connected series of large egg capsules, or oothecae, of several species of American marine gastropods of the genus Fulgur.

Synonyms

• (strip of fabric): frill, furbelow

Translations

Verb

ruffle (third-person singular simple present ruffles, present participle ruffling, simple past and past participle ruffled)

1. (transitive) To make a ruffle in; to curl or flute, as an edge of fabric.

2. (transitive) To disturb; especially, to cause to flutter.
   • 1832, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening

     the fantastic revelries […] that so often ruffled the placid bosom of the Nile

   • 1860, Sir William Hamilton, Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet

     These ruffle the tranquillity of the mind.

   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, Guinevere
3. (intransitive) To grow rough, boisterous, or turbulent.
4. (intransitive) To become disordered; to play loosely; to flutter.
5. (intransitive) To be rough; to jar; to be in contention; hence, to put on airs; to swagger.
6. To make into a ruff; to draw or contract into puckers, plaits, or folds; to wrinkle.
7. To erect in a ruff, as feathers.
   • 1832, Alfred Tennyson, The Palace of Art
8. (military) To beat with the ruff or ruffle, as a drum.
9. To throw together in a disorderly manner.

Translations

Derived terms

• rufflement
• ruffler
• ruffle some feathers
• ruffle up
• ruffly
• unruffled

References

Anagrams

• Fulfer, luffer