as in perplexing
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1
as in baffling
to throw into a state of mental uncertainty
we were confounded by the player's remote control, which wasn't at all user-friendly
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in embarrassing
to throw into a state of self-conscious distress
his renewed popularity has confounded the critics who said his singing career was dead
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3
as in confusing
to fail to differentiate (a thing) from something similar or related
I think you've confounded astrology with astronomy
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4
as in refuting
to prove to be false
new discoveries that confound much of what archaeologists thought they knew about the Mayan civilization
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of confounding
Brian Moylan, Vulture, 10 Oct. 2025
The offense’s struggles are the most confounding.
—Zach Berman, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
Tuesday will go down as one of Boston’s most confounding losses of the season, a 4-3 defeat in 11 innings to the Baltimore Orioles in which the club went 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position.
—Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 22 Aug. 2025
Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 3 Nov. 2025
That probably comes across a bit confounding.
—Kansas City Star, 3 Nov. 2025
All of that has been wrapped around impressive wins over the Vikings, Commanders and Bills that have only served to make these Falcons’ struggles more confounding.
—Josh Kendall, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025
The researchers identified nine confounding factors in the study, like parental demographics, socioeconomic status, cognitive development and peer influence.
—Greta Cross, USA Today, 31 Oct. 2025
But against all reasonable predictions for this confounding squad, the B’s are a team that has been able to score in bunches, especially when a little urgency is infused into their game.
—Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 29 Oct. 2025
And that risk was calculated after controlling for a range of confounding factors that are known to influence health, like bullying or lack of parental involvement.
—NPR, 29 Oct. 2025
The confounding discovery of a human femur has created a mystery in the dense woods of rural North Carolina.
—Mark Price, Charlotte Observer, 21 Oct. 2025
Explaining exactly why this particular trend, like so many confounding memes and viral nonsense, will travel unbelievably far on the web, and elsewhere, is as easy as painting wind.
—Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 16 Oct. 2025
Adjective
What is the most confounding and terrible, however, is Gretchen’s assertion that Slade, the anti-Viagra, doesn’t get involved with the women on his own accord, but only engages because the women always talk about him.
—Brian Moylan, Vulture, 10 Oct. 2025
The offense’s struggles are the most confounding.
—Zach Berman, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
Tuesday will go down as one of Boston’s most confounding losses of the season, a 4-3 defeat in 11 innings to the Baltimore Orioles in which the club went 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position.
—Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 22 Aug. 2025
Verb
His antics, which include hysterical subway-riding tutorials and his earnest but confounding interventions, come from a good place.
—Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 3 Nov. 2025
That probably comes across a bit confounding.
—Kansas City Star, 3 Nov. 2025
All of that has been wrapped around impressive wins over the Vikings, Commanders and Bills that have only served to make these Falcons’ struggles more confounding.
—Josh Kendall, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025
The researchers identified nine confounding factors in the study, like parental demographics, socioeconomic status, cognitive development and peer influence.
—Greta Cross, USA Today, 31 Oct. 2025
But against all reasonable predictions for this confounding squad, the B’s are a team that has been able to score in bunches, especially when a little urgency is infused into their game.
—Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 29 Oct. 2025
And that risk was calculated after controlling for a range of confounding factors that are known to influence health, like bullying or lack of parental involvement.
—NPR, 29 Oct. 2025
The confounding discovery of a human femur has created a mystery in the dense woods of rural North Carolina.
—Mark Price, Charlotte Observer, 21 Oct. 2025
Explaining exactly why this particular trend, like so many confounding memes and viral nonsense, will travel unbelievably far on the web, and elsewhere, is as easy as painting wind.
—Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 16 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for confounding
Adjective
-
Played for comic relief, he is baffled by this son of his who attends college and, more perplexing yet, is suddenly obsessed with Italy and cycling.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
4 Nov. 2025
-
The sheriff’s office was called, and initially the deaths were deemed suspicious, though the situation seemed more perplexing than criminal.—
Joy Williams,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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One morning, members of the Fort Greely missile defense base spot an ICBM of unknown origin on a suborbital trajectory heading straight for Chicago, baffling the country’s top intelligence and defense teams who only have 18 minutes to respond before impact.—
Jake Kring-Schreifels,
Time,
27 Oct. 2025
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But there were strengths here, too, none more than England’s impervious Lazarus complex, that baffling inability to know when one is in a state of emergency.—
Megan Feringa,
New York Times,
26 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Still, the former University of Miami standout did not want to be dealt, even publicly stating that just hours after the Dolphins’ embarrassing 28-6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
3 Nov. 2025
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For French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin, the heist spotlights embarrassing security failings at one of France’s most venerable institutions.—
Jacqui Palumbo,
CNN Money,
21 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Perplexity’s image features photographs of people with some truly nightmarish distortions on its wall, while the placement of its sink is confusing and distracting.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
25 Oct. 2025
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This was out of respect for me, and also to avoid confusing the children.—
Judith Martin,
Mercury News,
23 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The film spends the next hour and 50 minutes refuting that idea.—
Sadie Sartini Garner,
Pitchfork,
24 Oct. 2025
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Michaels took to her Instagram days after the release of Fit for TV to post a series of screenshots of text chains, email threads, and other pieces of documentation refuting or otherwise complicating each claim leveled at her.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
14 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The second flare is even more puzzling.—
Keith Cooper,
Space.com,
16 Oct. 2025
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Staffers spent the weekend trading calls and texts, trying to piece together who had been axed, who had been spared, and, most puzzling, why.—
Tom Bartlett,
The Atlantic,
13 Oct. 2025
Verb
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And aren’t our real-life romantic complications bewildering enough?—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
4 Sep. 2025
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Its ginormous investments in higher-value, tech-heavy sectors from smartphones to autos to semiconductors to biotechnology are disrupting the global landscape at bewildering speed.—
William Pesek,
Forbes.com,
27 Aug. 2025
Verb
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The code, though, is currently often replete with disconcerting troubles.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
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This detail, at once tragic and comic, painfully human and stupidly bureaucratic, captures something essential about Schattenfroh, an extremely dark novel about the horrors of modern European history laced with the delirious, disconcerting humor of a Hieronymus Bosch painting.—
Book Marks
September 11,
Literary Hub,
11 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Confounding.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/confounding. Accessed 9 Nov. 2025.
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