Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To bring together; meld or fuse.
  • transitive verb To combine (two variant texts, for example) into one whole.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To blow together; bring together as if by convergent winds.
  • In diplomatics, to form by inadvertent combination of two readings of the same words. See conflation, 3.
  • Blown together; wafted together from several sources; heterogeneous.
  • In diplomatics, marked by conflation; inadvertently formed by combining two different readings into one: as, a conflate text or passage.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To blow together; to bring together; to collect; to fuse together; to join or weld; to consolidate.
  • transitive verb to ignore distinctions between, by treating two or more distinguishable objects or ideas as one; to confuse.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To bring things together and fuse them into a single entity.
  • verb To mix together different elements.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb mix together different elements

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin cōnflāre, cōnflāt- : com-, com- + flāre, to blow; see bhlē- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1541: from Latin cōnflātus, from cōnflō ("fuse, melt, or blow together"); cōn ("with, together") + flō ("blow").

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Examples

  • In order to present the Táin in its completest form, however, I have adopted the novel plan of incorporating in the LL. account the translations of what are known as conflate readings.

    The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Táin Bó Cúalnge Unknown

  • So I do equate (not "conflate") Johnson and Bond in this context: Some Black "prominent" people (some of them from the civil rights movement era) have seemingly found it difficult to break away from the (hopefully, now past) paternalistic relationship carved out with "the Clintons" over time.

    NAACP Head To DNC: Seat Florida And Michigan Delegations 2009

  • When she used the word "conflate" at a principals 'meeting, she was mocked for academic jargon.

    Chemistry In The War Cabinet 2007

  • Goolsbee said it was important not to "conflate" the short-term deterioration in the budget picture, which he said was a result of economic crisis, and long-term budget challenges.

    Reuters: Top News 2011

  • Goolsbee said it was important not to "conflate" the short-term deterioration in the budget picture, which he said was a result of economic crisis, and long-term budget challenges.

    Reuters: Top News 2011

  • Heart, you’re conflating two things I don’t conflate, which is my “endorsement” of a feminist’s writing and whether or not I can deal with interacting with them on “Alas.”

    Link Farm and Open Thread #11 2006

  • They "conflate" the scientific issue with the beliefs of those asked.

    naplesnews.com Stories 2010

  • The word "conflate" means "to bring together" - and that's exactly what Judge Jones tried to do with respect to ID and fundamentalism.

    Evolution News & Views 2009

  • The word "conflate" means "to bring together" - and that's exactly what Judge Jones tried to do with respect to ID and fundamentalism.

    Evolution News & Views 2009

  • The word "conflate" means "to bring together" - and that's exactly what Judge Jones tried to do with respect to ID and fundamentalism.

    Evolution News & Views 2009

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