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
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.
Add to that complexities of water that confound searching, especially near the Arctic.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026
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 • Dec. 9, 2025
Mensah’s Preservation Alliance team is composed of misfits, including David Dastmalchian’s Gurathin and Sabrina Wu’s Pin-Lee, who often confound Murderbot’s expectations.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 13, 2025
While the strikers can look frail, their willingness to suffer is meant to confound the state and emphasize their unshakeable commitment to a cause.
From Salon • May 1, 2025
The roads confound him; they’ve knotted up, dark, antagonistic; he pits himself against them, valiant, a man doing battle for love.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
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.
