conflation

noun

con·​fla·​tion kən-ˈflā-shən 

plural conflations

: the action or result of conflating:

a(1)

: blend, fusion

What needs to be highlighted is the power that the state wields through conflations of people and place, and policies and programs.

—Thomas Klak

(2)

: confusion

The conflation of lie and lay is an old problem and, admittedly, an understandable one.

—Cullen Murphy

Clearly the dominant American culture confuses us Mennonites with the Amish, who in fact began as an insurgent faction rebelling from the Mennonites. America's conflation is reasonable, since the Mennonites and the Amish have historically overlapped in many lifestyle choices.

—Rhoda Janzen

b

: a composite reading or text

But this book is not simply a conflation of old dispatches from one of the world's forgotten trouble spots.

—William Boyd

Synonyms

• admixture
• alloy
• amalgam
• amalgamation
• blend
• cocktail
• combination
• composite
• compound
• emulsion
• fusion
• intermixture
• meld
• mix
• mixture
• synthesis

Examples of conflation in a Sentence

the word “robustious” is probably a conflation of “robust” and “boisterous”

Recent Examples on the Web

At issue was the film’s conflation of gender transition with moral redemption, dealing with the process on the level of metaphor rather than something undergone by actual people. —Nate Jones, Vulture, 7 Feb. 2025

Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, a nonpartisan civil rights group, said the group was deeply troubled by the apparent conflation of criticism of Israel with alleged antisemitism. —Andrea Shalal, USA TODAY, 30 Jan. 2025

Her experience mirrors a broader trend: the conflation of busyness with achievement. —Amy Blankson, Forbes, 22 Jan. 2025

Could there be a more emphatic conflation of symbolic maleness and brute force? —Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 11 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1625, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for conflation

• ablation
• bination
• carnation
• cassation
• castration
• causation
• centration
• cessation
• cetacean
• chelation
• citation
• collation