WASHINGTON >> The White House on Wednesday rescinded a directive that froze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans after the order led to mass confusion and legal challenges that accused the Trump administration of violating the law.

The order, issued Monday night, was an attempt to purge the government of what President Donald Trump has called a “woke” ideology. A federal judge in the District of Columbia temporarily blocked it Tuesday afternoon, but the lack of clarity sent schools, hospitals, nonprofits and other organizations scrambling to understand if they had lost their financial support from the government.

On Wednesday, Matthew J. Vaeth, the acting director for the Office of Management and Budget, told federal agencies that the memo freezing aid had been “rescinded.”

In a brief notice, Vaeth said: “If you have questions about implementing the president’s executive orders, please contact your agency general counsel.”

The decision to pull the directive was a significant reversal and the first major capitulation by Trump since returning to the White House. Less than two weeks into his term, he has not hesitated to use his executive power to reshape the federal government in his image and rid the workforce of any dissent.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, wrote on social media that “This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze.” She said the president’s executive orders on federal funding “remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.”

She appeared to be referring to the fact that the executive orders Trump signed last week — which directed government agencies to review and eliminate spending on so-called woke ideologies — remain in force.

Monday’s Office of Management and Budget memo was an effort to carry out those executive orders by freezing all spending while the administration determined which programs violated the president’s directive. That memo is no longer in force.

But the underlying presidential intention remains, and the administration is expected to find other ways to put Trump’s wishes into practice.

Still, the chaotic 48 hours suggested that Trump and his allies had overestimated their ability to impose ideological purity tests on federal funding. The order interrupted the Medicaid system, which provides health care to millions of low-income Americans, and left thousands of people in limbo.

The confusion recalled Trump’s haphazard rollout of travel restrictions on Muslim-majority countries during his first term, limits that ended up being blocked temporarily and pared back in court.

During a bill signing Wednesday, Trump accused the media of mischaracterizing the rollout of his directive and said his administration was “merely looking at parts of the big bureaucracy where there has been tremendous waste and fraud and abuse.”

In private, senior Trump advisers were furious that they were not read into the process. Some felt that the resulting mess gave Democrats their best opening since Trump’s election victory to rally public opposition against the administration.

Democrats assailed Trump’s order as an unlawful encroachment on Congress’ authority to control spending.

“Today, we saw what happens when Americans fight back against disastrous policies,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the minority leader, told reporters. “Americans made their voices heard.”

The disruption appeared to invigorate Democratic opposition and allowed Trump’s political opponents to find a unified message.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, called the decision to rescind the order “an important victory for the American people,” commending those who spoke out against it and put pressure on the White House.

She accused the Trump administration of sowing chaos through “a combination of sheer incompetence, cruel intentions and a willful disregard of the law.”

Skye Perryman, the CEO of Democracy Forward, a liberal organization that filed the lawsuit that led to the temporary block on Trump’s order, said the directive was “unlawful” and “had a callous and harmful effect on millions of Americans.”

“They thought that no one was going to hold them accountable,” Perryman said.

Federal agencies on Wednesday raced to keep pace with the reversal by the White House.

On Wednesday morning, the Housing and Urban Development Department sent an email ordering researchers to stop work on their federally funded projects immediately while officials undertook a “comprehensive review.” Then on Wednesday afternoon, the department sent another email, this time saying that researchers could continue their work because the budget office memo had been rescinded.

Companies that provide technology support and other services to the federal government were also struggling to understand the implications of Trump’s executive actions.

David Berteau, the president of the Professional Services Council, a trade group for federal contractors, said that some firms were not being paid for work they did before Trump took office.