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Webster 1913 Edition


Confound

Con-found′

(kŏn-found′)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Confounded
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Confounding
.]
[F.
confondre
, fr. L.
confundere
,
-fusum
, to pour together;
con-
+
fundere
to pour. See
Fuse
to melt, and cf.
Confuse
.]
1.
To mingle and blend, so that different elements can not be distinguished; to confuse.
They who strip not ideas from the marks men use for them, but
confound
them with words, must have endless dispute.
Locke.
Let us go down, and there
confound
their language.
Gen. xi. 7.
2.
To mistake for another; to identify falsely.
They [the tinkers] were generally vagrants and pilferers, and were often
confounded
with the gypsies.
Macaulay.
3.
To throw into confusion or disorder; to perplex; to strike with amazement; to dismay.
The gods
confound
...
The Athenians both within and out that wall.
Shakespeare
They trusted in thee and were not
confounded
.
Ps. xxii. 5.
So spake the Son of God, and Satan stood
A while as mute,
confounded
what to say.
Milton.
4.
To destroy; to ruin; to waste.
[Obs.]
One man’s lust these many lives
confounds
.
Shakespeare
Syn. – To abash; confuse; baffle; dismay; astonish; defeat; terrify; mix; blend; intermingle. See
Abash
.
A cloudy and
confounded
philosopher.
Cudworth.
2.
Excessive; extreme; abominable.
[Colloq.]
He was a most
confounded
tory.
Swift.
The tongue of that
confounded
woman.
Sir. W. Scott.

Webster 1828 Edition


Confound

CONFOUND

,
Verb.
T.
[L., to pour out. Literally, to pour or throw together.]
1.
To mingle and blend different things, so that their forms or natures cannot be distinguished; to mix in a mass or crowd, so that individuals cannot be distinguished.
2.
To throw into disorder.
Let us go down, and there confound their language. Genesis 11.
3.
To mix or blend, so as to occasion a mistake of one thing for another.
A fluid body and a wetting liquor, because they agree in many things, are wont to be confounded.
Men may confound ideas with words.
4.
To perplex; to disturb the apprehension by indistinctness of ideas or words.
Men may confound each other by unintelligible terms or wrong application of words.
5.
To abash; to throw the mind into disorder; to cast down; to make ashamed.
Be thou confounde and ber thy shame. Ezekiel 16.
Saul confounded the Jews at Damascus. Acts 9.
6.
To perplex with terror; to terrify; to dismay; to astonish; to throw into consternation; to stupify with amazement.
So spake the Son of God; and Satan stood a while as mute confounded what to say.
The multitude came together and were confounded. Acts 2.
7.
To destroy; to overthrow.
So deep a malice to confound the race of mankind in one root.

Definition 2024


confound

confound

English

Verb

confound (third-person singular simple present confounds, present participle confounding, simple past and past participle confounded)

  1. To confuse; to mix up; to puzzle.
    • 2012 June 29, Kevin Mitchell, “Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beat Julien Benneteau”, in the Guardian:
      The fightback when it came was in the 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 of the match.
    • 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 not confound us that we may not understand our words.
  2. To fail to see the difference; to mix up; to confuse right and wrong.
  3. To make something worse.
    Don't confound the 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 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.
  4. To cause to be ashamed; to abash.
    His actions confounded the skeptics.
  5. To defeat, to frustrate, to thwart.
    • 1769, King James Bible, Oxford Standard text, 1 Corinthians, i, 27,
      But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
    • Traditional, date and author unknown, God Save the Queen,
      O Lord, our God, arise, / Scatter thine enemies, / And make them fall / Confound their politics, / Frustrate their knavish tricks, / On thee our hopes we fix: / God save us all.
    • 1848 February 12, John Mitchel, The United Irishman, Letter to Lord Clarendon,
      I am now, in order the better to confound your 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.
  6. (dated) To damn (a mild oath).
    Confound you!
    Confound the lady!
    • 1882, Arthur Conan Doyle, My Friend the Murderer in The 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.
      "Confound 43!" I responded from behind the pages of the Australian Sketcher.
    • 1877, Anna Sewell, Black Beauty Chapter 23
      "Confound these bearing reins!" he said to himself; "I thought we should have some mischief soon—master will be sorely vexed;
  7. (archaic) To bring to ruination.
  8. To stun, amaze

Synonyms

Translations

Noun

confound (plural confounds)

  1. (statistics) a confounding variable

Synonyms