confounds

present tense third-person singular of confound
1
2
3
as in conflates
to fail to differentiate (a thing) from something similar or related I think you've confounded astrology with astronomy

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

4

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of confounds Again, all of this confounds traditional attempts at sense making. Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 4 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for confounds
Verb
  • But the state's message confuses parents, especially the poor and underserved, Anzalone said.
    Arthur Allen, ABC News, 22 Oct. 2025
  • But too often, this instinct to chase conflict distorts reality and confuses the public.
    Nancy Gibbs, Time, 17 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Ex-contractor likens Gaza aid effort to 'The Hunger Games,' former employer refutes claims One meal a day.
    Gram Slattery, USA Today, 11 Sep. 2025
  • However, in a blog on the topic, the NPS refutes the idea that one park is more deadly than any other.
    Owen Clarke, Outside, 9 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The zoning board's vote effectively overturns a different board's decision blocking demolition of the Alpine lodge.
    Kelly Meyerhofer, jsonline.com, 8 Oct. 2025
  • The order overturns the Biden administration’s 2024 decision blocking a 211-mile road over concerns that mining could threaten caribou and fish vital to dozens of Native subsistence communities.
    Reuters, CNN Money, 7 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The designs were puckish and gender-bending, evoking both awe and repulsion—the sort of clothing that titillates lovers of conceptual fashion and bewilders the uninitiated.
    Ana Karina Zatarain, New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2025
  • Wedged in the far southeastern corner of the bottom of the continent, between South Africa and Mozambique, Eswatini is the last absolute monarchy in Africa, a status that bewilders modernizers and beguiles traditionalists.
    The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 15 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • Why ban books, Postman asked, if no one bothers to read them?
    Time, Time, 10 Sep. 2025
  • What bothers her most is how the refusal seemed to change her brother’s behavior.
    Ashley Vega, PEOPLE, 10 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Take the quiz here … DUGOUT SECRETS – Mysterious wooden canoe found after Hurricane Ian still baffles experts three years later.
    , FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2025
  • One case that still baffles is the macabre story of Virginia McCullough, who killed her parents for their money – and then lived with their bodies for four years.
    KC Baker, People.com, 15 Aug. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Confounds.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/confounds. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on confounds

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!