conflate

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conflation

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Attested since 1541^[1]: from Latin cōnflātus, past passive participle of cōnflō (“fuse, kindle, blow together”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kənˈfleɪt/, /kɒnˈfleɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kənˈfleɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪt

conflate (third-person singular simple present conflates, present participle conflating, simple past and past participle conflated)

1. To combine or mix together.

   Synonyms: mix, blend, coalesce, commingle, flux, immix, merge, amalgamate, fuse, meld

2. (by extension) To fail to properly distinguish or keep separate (things); to mistakenly treat (them) as equivalent.

   Synonyms: confuse, mix up, lump together

   “Bacon was Lord Chancellor of England and the first European to experiment with gunpowder.” — “No, you are conflating Francis Bacon and Roger Bacon.”

3. (by extension) To deliberately draw a false equivalence or association, typically in a tacit or implicit manner as propaganda and/or an intentional distortion or misrepresentation of the subject matter.
   • 2018 June 25, Shan Wu, “The real story behind Trump’s immigration executive order”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     But in reality, the order simply furthers the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies by continuing to conflate immigration issues with criminal ones.

   • 2020 August 18, “Your big questions about race, answered”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     But again, this conflates global geographic variation with race, says Alan Goodman, a biological anthropologist at Hampshire College.

   • 2020 September 15, Brandon Miller and Judson Jones, “Climate is not weather: Trump continues to get the two conflated”, in CNN‎^[3]:

     Climate skeptics have conflated the two for years, for example, pointing to cold winter weather as proof that global warming is a hoax, most likely to play on people’s confusion about the two.

   • 2022 September 12, Deidre McPhillips, “Critiques mount around popular annual college rankings”, in CNN‎^[4]:

     “We must stop conflating selectivity with excellence. We must stop correlating prestige with privilege,” he said.

conflate (not comparable)

1. (biblical criticism) Combining elements from multiple versions of the same text.
   • 1999, Emanuel Tov, The Greek and Hebrew Bible: Collected Essays on the Septuagint:

     Why the redactor created this conflate version, despite its inconsistencies, is a matter of conjecture.

conflate (plural conflates)

1. (biblical criticism) A conflate text, one which conflates multiple version of a text together.

• falconet, lactofen

cōnflāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of cōnflō