confound

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English

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Etymology

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FromMiddle Englishconfounden(destroy, ruin, perplex),fromAnglo-NormancunfundreandOld Frenchconfondre,fromLatinconfundō(to mingle, mix together).Related tofound(to melt (metals in afoundry))(but not tofound(to start),nor tofind) and tofusion.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key):/kənˈfaʊnd/
  • Audio(US):(file)
    Rhymes:-aʊnd
  • Hyphenation:con‧found

Verb

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confound(third-person singular simple presentconfounds,present participleconfounding,simple past and past participleconfounded)

  1. Toperplexorpuzzle.
    Synonym:puzzle
    • 1830,Joseph Smith, Jr.,Book of Mormon: Ether,i, 34:
      And the brother of Jared being a large and mighty man, and a man highly favored of the Lord, Jared, his brother, said unto him: Cry unto the Lord, that he will notconfoundus that we may not understand our words.
    • 2012June 29, Kevin Mitchell, “Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beatJulien Benneteau”,inThe Guardian[1],archived fromthe originalon15 November 2016:
      The fightback when it came was in the[Roger] Federerfashion: unfussy, filled with classy strokes from the back with perfectly timed interventions at the net thatconfoundedhis opponent. The third set passed in a bit of a blur, the fourth, which led to the second tie-break, was the most dramatic of the match.
  2. Tostunoramaze.
  3. To fail to see thedifference;to mix up; to confuserightandwrong.
    Synonyms:confuse,mix up;see alsoThesaurus:confuse
  4. (sometimesproscribed)To make something worse.
    Don'tconfoundthe situation by yelling.
    • 1983,Carol M. Anderson, Susan Stewart,Mastering Resistance: A Practical Guide to Family Therapy:
      While she had obeyed him, smiling sweetly all the time, she had nursed a growing resentment of what she called his "Latin Americanmachoattitude. "Toconfoundthe problem, his mother, who lived with them on and off, was described by the wife as being as domineering as her son.
  5. Tocombinein a confused fashion; tomingleso as to make the parts indistinguishable.
    • 1611,Coryat,Crudities,volume I,page195:
      There the freſh and ſalt water would meete and beconfoundedtogether,[]
  6. To cause to beashamed;toabash.
    His actionsconfoundedthe skeptics.
  7. Todefeat,tofrustrate,tothwart.
    • 1611,The Holy Bible,[](King James Version), London:[]Robert Barker,[],→OCLC,1 Corinthians1:27:
      But God hath choſen the fooliſh things of the woꝛld, toconfoundthe wiſe: and God hath choſen the weake things of the woꝛld, toconfoundthe things which are mighty:
    • a.1745,unknown author, “God Save the King”,inThe Gentleman's Magazine[2],volume15,page552:
      O Lord our God ariſe, / Scatter his enemies, / And make them fall: /Confoundtheir politics, / Fruſtrate their knaviſh tricks, / On him our hopes we fix, / O ſave us all.
    • 1848February 12,John Mitchel,The United Irishman,Letter to Lord Clarendon,
      I am now, in order the better toconfoundyour politics, going to give you a true account of the means we intend to use, and of the rules, signs, and pass-words of our new United Irish Society Lodge A. 1.—They are so simple that you will never believe them.
  8. (dated)Todamn(a mild oath).
    Confoundyou!
    Confoundthe lady!
    • 1882,Arthur Conan Doyle,“My Friend the Murderer”,inThe Gully of Bluemansdyke and Other Stories:
      "Number 43 is no better, Doctor," said the head-warder, in a slightly reproachful accent, looking in round the corner of my door.
      "Confound43! "I responded from behind the pages of theAustralian Sketcher.
    • [1877],Anna Sewell,“A Strike for Liberty”, inBlack Beauty:[],London:Jarrold and Sons,[],→OCLC,part II,page107:
      "Confoundthese bearing reins! "he said to himself;" I thought we should have some mischief soon—master will be sorely vexed;[]"
  9. (archaic)Todestroy,ruin,ordevastate;to bring toruination.
    • 1667,John Milton,“Book I”, inParadise Lost.[],London:[][Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker[];[a]nd by Robert Boulter[];[a]nd Matthias Walker,[],→OCLC;republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books:[],London: Basil Montagu Pickering[],1873,→OCLC,lines51–53:
      To mortal men, he with his horrid crew / Lay vanquiſht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe /Confoundedthough immortal: But his doom[]
    • 1726October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Veracity. His Design in Publishing this Work.[]”,inTravels into Several Remote Nations of the World.[][Gulliver’s Travels],volume II, London:[]Benj[amin]Motte,[],→OCLC,part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms),page345:
      Imagine twenty thouſand of them breaking into the midſt of anEuropeanArmy,confoundingthe Ranks, overturning the Carriages, battering the Warriors Faces into Mummy, by terrible Yerks from their hinder Hoofs.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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confound(pluralconfounds)

  1. (statistics)Aconfoundingvariable.
    Synonym:confounder
    • 2009,C. James Goodwin,Research In Psychology: Methods and Design[3],John Wiley & Sons,→ISBN,page175:
      The participants certainly differ in how their practice is distributed (1, 2, or 3 days), but theyalsodiffer in how much total practice they get (3, 6, or 9 hours). This is a perfect example of aconfound—it is impossible to tell if the results are due to one factor (distribution of practice) or the other (total practice hours); the two factors covary perfectly.