Confound meaning

kən-found', kŏn-
To cause to become confused or perplexed.
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To confound is defined as to confuse someone, defeat an enemy or foil a plan.

An example of confound is when you ask someone a really tough question.

An example of confound is when you act in a suprising way, leaving friends confused about your behavior.

An example of confound is when you stop a plot to overthrow the government.

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To fail to distinguish; mix up.

Don't confound fiction and fact.

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To make (something bad) worse.

Do not confound the problem by losing your temper.

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To cause to be ashamed; abash.

An invention that confounded the skeptics.

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Used in mild curses.

Confound you!

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To mix up or lump together indiscriminately; confuse.
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To make feel confused; bewilder.
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To damn.
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To defeat or destroy.
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To confuse; to mix up; to puzzle.
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To fail to see the difference; to mix up; to confuse right and wrong.
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To make something worse.

Don't confound the situation by yelling.

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To cause to be ashamed; to abash.

His actions confounded the skeptics.

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To defeat, to frustrate, to thwart.
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(dated) To damn (a mild oath).

Confound you!

Confound the lady!

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(archaic) To bring to ruination.
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(statistics) A confounding variable.
noun
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To abash.
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Origin of confound

  • Middle English confounden from Anglo-Norman confundre from Latin cōnfundere to mix together, confuse com- com- fundere to pour gheu- in Indo-European roots
    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
  • From Anglo-Norman cunfundre, from Old French confondre.
    From Wiktionary

Confound Sentence Examples

  • Many authors confound the year of Rome with the civil year, supposing them both to begin on the 1st of January.

  • "Confound him, he's a fool!" said Rostov.

  • I'm guessing I confound you the same way you do me.

  • The Christian Fathers seem to confound them with the Samaritans, and the confusion is natural enough.

  • The belief that he had not really died, but would return again to confound his foes, was long prevalent, not only in the remoter provinces, but even in Rome itself; and more than one pretender was able to collect a following by assuming the name of the last of the race of Augustus.

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Words near confound in the Dictionary