confounding

confounding is the present participle and gerund of confound.

Noun

confounding (plural confoundings)

The act by which things are confounded, or confused.
The process by which an apparent association between an exposure and an outcome is actually explained by another factor.
- Confounding is defined as the confusion or distortion of measures of association between exposure and outcome as a result of third (or more) variable(s).2013, Macera CA, Shaffer R, Shaffer PM, Introduction to Epidemiology: Distribution and Determinants of Disease,, Cengage Learning, page 158

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
Synonyms:

puzzle, vex
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...
Synonyms:

confuse, mix up, addle, baffle, vex, lose, embroil, stick, stump, baffound
(proscribed, sometimes) To make something worse.
- Don't confound the situation by yelling.
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
To cause to be ashamed; to abash.
- His actions confounded the skeptics.

confounding (comparative more confounding, superlative most confounding)

Confusing, bewildering, baffling or perplexing.
- We have to with a Heart ſearching God, who will find out every unworthy Communicant to his utter Shame and Confuſion ; when God examins ſuch, his Queſtions will be Nonpluſſing and Confounding,[…]1716, John Willison, “A Help For The Right Improvement of Communion Sabbaths”, in A Treatise Concerning the Sanctifying of the Lord's Day. And Particularly, The Right Improvement of a...
- But, Lord my God, help me so to remember that thou mayest forget them ; so to charge them upon myself, that thou mayest never lay them to my charge ; so to keep them before my eyes, to abase and humble my soul, that thou mayest hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities ; especially...1803, Benjamin Jenks, “A Prayer Upon the Remembrance of Former Sins”, in Prayers and Offices of Devotion, For Families and For Particular Persons, Upon Most Occasions, page 230

By surface analysis, confound + -ing.

What does confounding mean?: Confounding means the act by which things are confounded, or confused.
What is confounding the present participle and gerund of?: Confounding is the present participle and gerund of confound.
What part of speech is confounding?: Confounding can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of confounding?: The plural of confounding is confoundings.

Adapted from Wiktionary: confounding (page history and authors); confound (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: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “confounding.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/confounding. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.