confound
Syllables: con·found/kənˈfaʊnd/
confound verb: to perplex or puzzle.
Verb
confound (third-person singular simple present confounds, present participle confounding, simple past and past participle confounded)
- To perplex or puzzle.
- 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 not confound us that we may not understand our words.1830, Joseph Smith, Jr., Book of Mormon: Ether, i, 34
- The fightback when it came was in the [Roger] Federer fashion: unfussy, filled with classy strokes from the back with perfectly timed interventions at the net that confounded his opponent. The third set passed in a bit of a blur, the fourth, which led to the second tie-break, was the most dramatic...2012 June 29, Kevin Mitchell, “Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beat Julien Benneteau”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 15 Nov 2016
- To stun or amaze.
- To fail to see the difference; to mix up; to confuse right and wrong.
- They vvho leſſe ſeriouſly conſider the force of vvords, doe ſometimes confound Lavv vvith Counſell, ſometimes vvith Covenant, ſometimes vvith Right. They confound Lavv vvith Counſel, vvho think, that it is the duty of Monarchs not onely to give ear to their Counſellours, but alſo to obey them, as...1651, Tho[mas] Hobbes, “[Dominion.] Chapter XIV. Of Lawes and Trespasses.”, in Philosophicall Rudiments Concerning Government and Society. […], London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond] for R[ichard] Royston...
- To make something worse.
- Don't confound the situation by yelling.
- While she had obeyed him, smiling sweetly all the time, she had nursed a growing resentment of what she called his "Latin American macho attitude." To confound the problem, his mother, who lived with them on and off, was described by the wife as being as domineering as her son.1983, Carol M. Anderson, Susan Stewart, Mastering Resistance: A Practical Guide to Family Therapy
- To combine in a confused fashion; to mingle so as to make the parts indistinguishable.
- There the freſh and ſalt water would meete and be confounded together, […]1611, Coryat, Crudities, volume I, page 195
- Medication and lifestyle factors significantly confound the association with obesity, for which there are few prospective studies and weak evidence for a directly causal relationship, while the association with traumatic brain injury is potentially confounded by ‘accident proneness’ or physical...2018 April 26, Tobias A Rowland, Steven Marwaha, “Epidemiology and risk factors for bipolar disorder”, in Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology, volume 8, number 9, →DOI, pages 251–269
- To cause to be ashamed; to abash.
- His actions confounded the skeptics.
- To defeat, to frustrate, to thwart.
- But God hath choſen the fooliſh things of the woꝛld, to confound the wiſe: and God hath choſen the weake things of the woꝛld, to confound the things which are mighty:1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Corinthians 1:27
- O Lord our God ariſe, / Scatter his enemies, / And make them fall: / Confound their politics, / Fruſtrate their knaviſh tricks, / On him our hopes we fix, / O ſave us all.a. 1745, unknown author, “God Save the King”, in The Gentleman's Magazine, volume 15, page 552
- To damn (a mild oath).
- Confound you!
- Confound the lady!
- To destroy, ruin, or devastate; to bring to ruination.
- To mortal men, he with his horrid crew / Lay vanquiſht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe / Confounded though immortal: But his doom[…]1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- Imagine twenty thouſand of them breaking into the midſt of an European Army, confounding the Ranks, overturning the Carriages, battering the Warriors Faces into Mummy, by terrible Yerks from their hinder Hoofs.1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Veracity. His Design in Publishing this Work. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London...
Noun
confound (plural confounds)
- A confounding variable.
- The participants certainly differ in how their practice is distributed (1, 2, or 3 days), but they also differ in how much total practice they get (3, 6, or 9 hours). This is a perfect example of a confound—it is impossible to tell if the results are due to one factor (distribution of practice) or...2009, C. James Goodwin, Research In Psychology: Methods and Design, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 175
- Synonyms:
- confounder
confound meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
confound in Tamil
- குழப்பு, சீர்குலை, திகைப்பூட்டு, தோல்வியுறச் செய்
confound in Urdu
- حیران کرنا, ہرانا, پلٹ دینا
confound in Bengali
- বিভ্রান্ত করা, হতবাক করা
confound in Malayalam
- തോല്പിക്കുക, കുഴയ്ക്കുക, ചിന്താക്കുഴപ്പം ഉണ്ടാക്കുക, പരാജയപ്പെടുത്തുക, അതിശയിപ്പിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- confound in Kannada
- ಬೆರಗಾಗು, ಗೊಂದಲಿಸು, ಕಂಗಾಲುಮಾಡು, ದಿಕ್ಕುಗೆಡಿಸು
- confound in Sanskrit
- लोभयति lobháyati
- confound in Arabic
- أَخْزَى ʔaḵzā
Examples of confound in a sentence
- The fightback when it came was in the [Roger] Federer fashion: unfussy, filled with classy strokes from the back with perfectly timed interventions at the net that confounded his opponent.2012 June 29, Kevin Mitchell, “Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beat Julien Benneteau”, in The Guardian, archived from the...
- They vvho leſſe ſeriouſly conſider the force of vvords, doe ſometimes confound Lavv vvith Counſell, ſometimes vvith Covenant, ſometimes vvith Right.1651, Tho[mas] Hobbes, “[Dominion.] Chapter XIV. Of Lawes and Trespasses.”, in Philosophicall Rudiments Concerning Government and Society....
- "Confound these bearing reins!" he said to himself; "I thought we should have some mischief soon—master will be sorely vexed;[…]"[1877], Anna Sewell, “A Strike for Liberty”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, page 107:
- This is a perfect example of a confound—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.2009, C. James Goodwin, Research In Psychology: Methods and Design, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 175:
Synonyms of confound
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of confound
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | confounds |
| present participle | confounding |
| past participle | confounded |
| past | confounded |
| Noun | |
| plural | confounds |
Origin of confound
From Middle English confounden (“destroy, ruin, perplex”), from Anglo-Norman cunfundre and Old French confondre, from Latin cōnfundō (“to mingle, mix together”). Related to found (“to melt (metals in a foundry)”) (but not to found (“to start”), nor to find) and to fusion.
Words formed from confound
Words that rhyme with confound
45 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- bound
- hound
- profound
- impound
- unbound
- underground
- crowned
- found
- remound
- surround
- unsound
- aground
- embrowned
- expound
- gound
- overground
- sqround
- surround sound
- unconfound
- uncrowned
- astound
- baffound
- below ground
- blound
- browned
- charging the mound
- clowned
- downed
- drowned
- found sound
- frowned
- gowned
- interwound
- lb
- newfound
- overwound
- playaround
- reground
- renowned
- rewound
- unfound
- unrenowned
- unwound
- wound
- York round
Questions about confound
- What does confound mean?
- Confound means to perplex or puzzle.
- What is confound in Tamil?
- Confound in Tamil is குழப்பு, சீர்குலை, திகைப்பூட்டு. See Confound meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use confound in a sentence?
- The fightback when it came was in the [Roger] Federer fashion: unfussy, filled with classy strokes from the back with perfectly timed interventions at the net that confounded his opponent.
- What part of speech is confound?
- Confound can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce confound?
- Confound is pronounced /kənˈfaʊnd/.
- What is the past tense of confound?
- The past tense of confound is confounded.
Words near confound in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: confound (page history and authors); confound (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); confound (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Confound (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); confound (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); confound (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); लोभयति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-confound.ogg.
Cite this entry: “confound.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/confound. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.