conflated

adjective

con·​flat·​ed kən-ˈflā-təd How to pronounce conflated (audio)
1
: made up of a combination of different elements
… Isabelle's conflated role of wife, mother and photojournalist …UWIRE Text
The haruspices represent the Etruscan tradition in official Roman religion, and it is extremely interesting to find one in so distant a province as Britain, honouring a conflated Romano-Celtic deity.Peter Salway
2
: confused with another or with each other : not properly differentiated
… in our society, where love and sexual desire are so conflatedOlivia Fane
The problem occurs when the idea of eating healthy and the decision to diet often become conflated.The Moulton (Alabama) Advertiser
However, the Department of Health accused the royal college of using partial and conflated data, confusing the number of people and consultations.Rowena Mason
There are so many misspellings, factual errors, conflated memories and faulty assumptions that the sum effect will likely prove only annoying …George Kimball
… political objections arise about who is doing anthropological research for whom—especially when it's for the government, corporations, or the rich and powerful. "Ethics becomes conflated with politics in ways that I find profoundly distressing," she [Laura A. McNamara] said.Dan Berrett

Examples of conflated in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web For many of us, this sprawling topic of screens and technology has so many strands, which overlap and merge into a giant conflated mess. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, 14 Feb. 2023 Many purported health benefits of ACV are pretty conflated (and are not actually scientifically proven), but ACV really does have probiotics to help your gut health. Sarah Bradley, Women's Health, 30 Jan. 2023 Their resistance to change is fueled by the fear of obsolescence, the threat to their economic model, and the conflated view that data, even if it is anonymized, somehow threatens attorney-client confidentiality. Mark A. Cohen, Forbes, 19 Apr. 2021 An empty lounge chair imparts a conflated sense of presence and absence while evoking a mood of isolation and loss against the chatter of radio and television broadcasts. Bernadette Driscoll Engelstad, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Apr. 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'conflated.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1652, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of conflated was in 1652

Dictionary Entries Near conflated

Cite this Entry

“Conflated.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conflated. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on conflated

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!