confound
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to perplex or amaze, especially by a sudden disturbance or surprise; bewilder; confuse.
The complicated directions confounded him.
-
to throw into confusion or disorder.
The revolution confounded the people.
-
to throw into increased confusion or disorder.
-
to treat or regard erroneously as identical; mix or associate by mistake.
truth confounded with error.
-
to mingle so that the elements cannot be distinguished or separated.
-
to damn (used in mild imprecations).
Confound it!
-
to contradict or refute.
to confound their arguments.
-
to put to shame; abash.
-
Archaic.
-
to defeat or overthrow.
-
to bring to ruin or naught.
-
-
Obsolete. to spend uselessly; waste.
verb
-
to astound or perplex; bewilder
-
to mix up; confuse
-
to treat mistakenly as similar to or identical with (one or more other things)
-
to curse or damn (usually as an expletive in the phrase confound it! )
-
to contradict or refute (an argument, etc)
-
to rout or defeat (an enemy)
-
obsolete to waste
Other Word Forms
- confoundable adjective
- confounder noun
- interconfound verb (used with object)
- preconfound verb (used with object)
- unconfound verb (used with object)
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”
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.
Some of the research included was observational and may have been influenced by confounding factors.
From Science Daily
“Medicine Show” was a record that either confounded or delighted fans of “alternative music” back in the early ’80s.
From Salon
In the last five years alone, a pandemic, an inflation spike and a trade war all appeared out of left field to confound expectations.
From MarketWatch
In The Times, critic David Kipen hailed Pynchon’s classic style as “Olympian, polymathic, erudite, antically funny, often beautiful, at times gross, at others incredibly romantic, never afraid to challenge or even confound.”
From Los Angeles Times
In their efforts, they illuminated our reality for what it is: contradictory and confounding, as hopeless as it is brimming with love and community.
From Salon
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.
