confound

verb con·found \ kən-ˈfau̇nd , kän- \

|Updated on: 21 Jun 2018

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Examples: confound in a Sentence

Definition of confound

confounded; confounding; confounds

transitive verb

1 a archaic : to bring to ruin : destroy

b : baffle, frustrate

Conferences … are not for accomplishment but to confound knavish tricks.
—John Kenneth Galbraith

2 obsolete : consume, waste

3 a : to put to shame : discomfit

a performance that confounded the critics

b : refute

sought to confound his arguments

4 : damn

5 : to throw (a person) into confusion or perplexity

tactics to confound the enemy

6 a : to fail to discern differences between : mix up

They implored Charles not to confound the innocent with the guilty …
—T. B. Macaulay

b : to increase the confusion of

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confounder

play \kən-ˈfau̇n-dər, kän-\ noun

—

confoundingly

play \kən-ˈfau̇n-diŋ-lē, kän-\ adverb

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Examples of confound in a Sentence

The strategy confounded our opponents.
The murder case has confounded investigators.
The school's team confounded all predictions and won the game.
The success of the show confounded critics.

Recent Examples of confound from the Web

On June 5, 2017, the two countries, along with Egypt and Bahrain, cut ties with Doha and triggered a rolling crisis that shook up the Persian Gulf status quo, confounded the Trump administration and created new fault lines in the Middle East.

— ishaan tharoor, Washington Post, "The Persian Gulf crisis has no winners, except maybe Iran," 7 June 2018
The number of dilapidated huts around here with brand-new cars sitting in front of them is confounding, and what people from this neighborhood can spend on clothes and shoes alone could most likely settle the national debt with change left over.

— aaron gilbreath, Longreads, "Judgement and Epiphany on Pittsburgh’s Number 79 Bus," 11 May 2018
Giuliani’s confounding and at times contradictory statements are said to have pleased Trump, exasperated White House aides and attorneys, and worried the president’s allies.

— eileen sullivan, BostonGlobe.com, "Trump criticizes investigators, citing ‘unrevealed conflicts of interest’," 7 May 2018
The Federal Reserve, which next meets on June 12-13, has been confounded by the lack of wage growth and will be closely watching the May number in order to weigh options for inflationary measures.

— lucy bayly /, NBC News, "Economy added 223,000 jobs in May, but Trump's premarket tweet is the focus," 1 June 2018
Though physics, philosophy and metaphysics have all grappled with the concept of time, we are still confounded by it.

— priyamvada natarajan, WSJ, "‘The Order of Time’ Review: Stop All the Clocks," 1 June 2018
Investigators were confounded by the situation in Cuba.

— jessica meyers, latimes.com, "Injury U.S. consulate worker in China suffered after odd sounds is similar to Cuba case, Pompeo says," 23 May 2018
Many dog owners were confounded upon reading that whipworms were found during the necropsy of Boppy.

— john schandelmeier, Anchorage Daily News, "Dog care is back in the news, and mushers must confront the issue," 29 Apr. 2018
But the timing did fit with Dunn’s possible involvement in another open case that confounded police: The disappearance of teenage sweethearts Timothy Hack and Kelly Drew, who were last seen at a wedding reception in summer 1980.

— jsonline.com, "CHAPTER 6: CULTS AND WITCHCRAFT," 4 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'confound.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of confound

Middle English confounden "to defeat, destroy, frustrate, bewilder," borrowed from Anglo-French confondre, going back to Latin confundere "to pour together, blend, bring into disorder, destroy, disconcert," from con- con- +fundere "to pour, shed" — more at ⁵found

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

confound Synonyms

Phrases

give the lie to;

Synonym Discussion of confound

puzzle, perplex, bewilder, distract, nonplus, confound, dumbfound mean to baffle and disturb mentally. puzzle implies existence of a problem difficult to solve.