different between nonspecific vs confuse

English

Etymology

non- +? specific

Adjective

nonspecific (not comparable)

1. Not specific or precise.
2. (of an infection) Not caused by a specific pathogen.
3. (of a person's immunity) Not caused by previous infection or vaccination.
4. (of a microscopic stain) That does not just stain one type of tissue.

Synonyms

• unspecific (less common), inspecific (much less common)

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