confound
Americanverb (used with object)
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to perplex or amaze, especially by a sudden disturbance or surprise; bewilder; confuse.
The complicated directions confounded him.
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to throw into confusion or disorder.
The revolution confounded the people.
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to throw into increased confusion or disorder.
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to treat or regard erroneously as identical; mix or associate by mistake.
truth confounded with error.
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to mingle so that the elements cannot be distinguished or separated.
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to damn (used in mild imprecations).
Confound it!
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to contradict or refute.
to confound their arguments.
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to put to shame; abash.
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Archaic.
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to defeat or overthrow.
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to bring to ruin or naught.
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Obsolete. to spend uselessly; waste.
verb
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to astound or perplex; bewilder
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to mix up; confuse
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to treat mistakenly as similar to or identical with (one or more other things)
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to curse or damn (usually as an expletive in the phrase confound it! )
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to contradict or refute (an argument, etc)
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to rout or defeat (an enemy)
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obsolete to waste
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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confoundernoun
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unconfoundverb (used with object)
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interconfoundverb (used with object)
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preconfoundverb (used with object)
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confoundableadjective
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have confoundedperfect
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has confoundedperfect 3rd person singular
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am confoundingprogressive 1st person singular
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is confoundingprogressive 3rd person singular
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confoundssingular 3rd person
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have been confoundingperfect progressive
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confoundingparticiple
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has been confoundingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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are confoundingprogressive
Past
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had confoundedperfect
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was confoundingprogressive singular
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were confoundingprogressive plural
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had been confoundingperfect progressive
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confoundedsimple
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confoundedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of confound
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English conf(o)unden, from Anglo-French confoundre, from Latin confundere “to mix,” equivalent to con- con- + fundere “to pour”
Explanation
If you have an identical twin, you've probably tried dressing alike so that people confound you with, or mistake you for, one another. You've also probably learned that, unfortunately, this trick doesn’t work on your mom. The verb confound means both "to mistake" and "to confuse." If you decide to treat yourself to a delicious dessert, you might find yourself confounded by the overwhelming number of choices. If you end up ordering the chocolate cake but the waiter brings you chocolate mousse, the waiter has somehow confounded those two options. Another meaning you may come across in literature is "to damn," as in "Confound it! You are the most exasperating person on the planet."
Vocabulary lists containing confound
100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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"Common Sense," Vocabulary from the pamphlet
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Common Sense
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Damn and blast it! Confound it! Wake up!” the conductor and composer Otto Nicolai wrote in his impassioned draft of the Vienna Philharmonic’s foundation charter, left, in the spring of 1842.
From New York Times • Feb. 24, 2017
Confound that difficulty with the terror that comes with striking out on your own, and you’re in for a bumpy ride.
From Forbes • Jan. 26, 2015
Confound their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks, On Thee our hopes we fix, God save the King!
From Time Magazine Archive
Finally, in exasperation, he shouted, "Confound you, can't you see what I'm trying to suggest?"
From Time Magazine Archive
He is leagues away by now,' quoth I. Confound that chalk-faced girl! she has out-witted us bearded men: and so I told the burgomaster, but he would not hear to reason.
From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Reade, Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
