confute

American  

[kuhn-fyoot] / kənˈfyut /

verb (used with object)

confuted, confuting

1. to prove to be false, invalid, or defective; disprove.

   to confute an argument.

2. to prove (a person) to be wrong by argument or proof.

   to confute one's opponent.

3. Obsolete. to bring to naught; confound.

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confute British  

/ ˌkɒnfjʊˈteɪʃən, kənˈfjuːt /

verb

1. to prove (a person or thing) wrong, invalid, or mistaken; disprove

2. obsolete to put an end to

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Other Word Forms

• confutable adjective
• confutation noun
• confutative adjective
• confuter noun
• unconfutable adjective
• unconfuted adjective
• unconfuting adjective

Etymology

Origin of confute

1520–30; < Latin confūtāre to abash, silence, refute, equivalent to con- con- + -fūtāre; cf. refute

Example Sentences

Now comes the "mediator" trying to keep peace between many power centers and "the Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute."

From Time Magazine Archive

Healthy, vigorous and solvent, they confute the view that old age, as William Butler Yeats put it, is nothing but a tattered coat upon a stick.

From Time Magazine Archive

As head of the Government I wish once and for all to confute this miserable lie.

From Time Magazine Archive

Delighted at this really "safe" issue, the Deputies rose to support or confute Dr. Pinard.

From Time Magazine Archive

Is it still necessary to confute Kautsky theoretically?

From Dictatorship vs. Democracy (Terrorism and Communism) by Trotzky, Leon Davidovich