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 of conflation

• mixture
• amalgamation
• amalgam
• mix
• blend
• combination
• alloy
• fusion
• synthesis

Examples of conflation in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples on the Web

Another frightening similarity between today and the pre-1914 world is the conflation of complaints that Great Powers have against one another. —Literary Hub, 27 May 2026

The conflation of multimodality and hypertextuality has been labeled hypermodality by researchers in order to highlight that the dynamic web of connectivity that characterizes hypertexts goes beyond monomodal texts with recurrent and recognizable characteristics. —Carmen Daniela Maier, Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 May 2026

This conflation of anti-establishment angst and homophobic paranoia didn’t arise organically. —Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 27 Mar. 2026

Obviously, there are many Jewish people who have courageously stood against Israeli policy and are pushing against that conflation. —Suzanne Schneider, The New York Review of Books, 25 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1625, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for conflation

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