confused

英 [kən'fjuːzd] 美 [kən'fjuzd]

confused (adj.): early 14c., "discomfited, routed, defeated" (of groups), serving at first as an alternative past participle of confound, as Latin confusus was the past participle of confundere "to pour together, mix, mingle; to join together;" hence, figuratively, "to throw into disorder; to trouble, disturb, upset." The Latin past participle also was used as an adjective, with reference to mental states, "troubled, embarrassed," and this passed into Old French as confus "dejected, downcast, undone, defeated, discomfited in mind or feeling," which passed to Middle English as confus (14c.; for example Chaucer's "I am so confus, that I may not seye"), which then was assimilated to the English past participle pattern by addition of -ed. Of individuals, "discomfited in mind, perplexed," from mid-14c.; of ideas, speech, thought, etc., from 1610s. By mid-16c., the word seems to have been felt as a pure adj., and it evolved a back-formed verb in confuse. Few English etymologies are more confused.

2. This policy, they say, is at best confused and at worst non-existent.: 有人说这项政策往好里说是混乱不堪，往坏里说就是形同虚设。

3. Things were happening too quickly and Brian was confused.: 事情发生得太快，把布赖恩给弄糊涂了。

4. Russia's efforts to attract investment have been halting and confused.: 俄罗斯在吸引投资上一直踌躇不前，混乱不清。