Confusion

views updated May 14 2018

122. Confusion

  1. Babel where God confounded speech of mankind. [O.T.: Genesis 11:79]
  2. bedlam from Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem, former English insane asylum. [Br. Folklore: Jobes, 193]
  3. Cia amnesia victim whose identity becomes doubtful when the same identity is claimed by an insane woman. [Ital. Drama: Pirandello As You Desire Me in Sobel, 35]
  4. Comedy of Errors, The two pairs of identical twins wreak social havoc in Ephesus. [Br. Drama: Shakespeare The Comedy of Errors ]
  5. Corybantes half-divine priests of Cybele; celebrated noisy festivals in her honor. [Gk. Myth.: Howe, 67]
  6. Jude the other Judas, not Iscariot. [N.T.: John 14:22]
  7. Labyrinth maze at Knossos where Minotaur lived. [Gk. Myth.: Hall, 185]
  8. Pandemonium Miltons capital of the devils. [Br. Lit.: Paradise Lost ]
  9. Pantagruelian Law Case not understanding the defense, judge gives incomprehensible verdict. [Fr. Lit.: Pantagruel ]
  10. Serbonian Bog Egyptian morass, where armies whole have sunk. [Br. Lit.: Paradise Lost ]
  11. Star-Splitter, The Weve looked and looked, but after all where are we? [Am. Lit.: The Star-Splitter in Hart, 799]

confusion

views updated May 23 2018

con·fu·sion / kənˈfyoōzhən/ • n. 1. lack of understanding; uncertainty: there seems to be some confusion about which system does what. ∎  a situation of panic; a breakdown of order: the shaken survivors retreated in confusion. ∎  a disorderly jumble: all I can see is a confusion of brown cardboard boxes.2. the state of being bewildered or unclear in one's mind about something: she looked about her in confusion. ∎  the mistaking of one person or thing for another: there is some confusion between “unlawful” and “illegal.”

Confusion

views updated May 18 2018

CONFUSION

The combination or mixture of two things; the process of commingling.

Confusion has been used synonymously with merger, meaning a union of two separate entities that eliminates clear boundaries. Confusion of rights, for example, is a combination of the rights of debtor and creditor in the same individual. Similarly, a confusion of titles exists when two titles to the same property combine in the same person. A confusion of debts is a method of eliminating a debt or canceling it. This may occur, for example, upon the death of a creditor when the debtor is the creditor's heir.

Confusion

views updated May 23 2018

Confusion

a confused collection or assemblage. See also chaos, clutter.

Examples: confusion of blocks of stone; of piled blocks, 1835; of persons, 1791.

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