confute
Americanverb (used with object)
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to prove to be false, invalid, or defective; disprove.
to confute an argument.
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to prove (a person) to be wrong by argument or proof.
to confute one's opponent.
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Obsolete. to bring to naught; confound.
verb
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to prove (a person or thing) wrong, invalid, or mistaken; disprove
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obsolete to put an end to
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of confute
1520–30; < Latin confūtāre to abash, silence, refute, equivalent to con- con- + -fūtāre; cf. refute
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.
Accordingly, I perus’d the ſame, but was ſo far from being convinc’d of my having before entertain’d falſe Notions of the Matter, that I found myſelf oblig’d to Confute these Aſſertions in print.
From Slate • Nov. 20, 2018
Confute, kon-fūt′, v.t. to prove to be false: to refute: to put an end to.—adj.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
Confute them then, Rachel—dolts that can't believe in self-devotion!
From Clever Woman of the Family by Yonge, Charlotte Mary
The beasts that have no speech nor argument Confute him, and the wild hog in the wood 650 That feels his longing, hurries straight thereto, And will not turn his head.
From The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges by Bridges, Robert
Confute me," he concluded, "by proofs of Scripture, or else by plain just arguments: I cannot recant otherwise.
From On Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History by Carlyle, Thomas
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.
