1
as in confuses
to throw into a state of mental uncertainty
we were confounded by the player's remote control, which wasn't at all user-friendly
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in embarrasses
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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in conflates
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 refutes
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 confounds
Again, all of this confounds traditional attempts at sense making.
—
Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 4 Sep. 2025
Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 4 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for confounds
Verb
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Typically caused by a sensitive immune system — which confuses innocuous bacteria for harmful pathogens — symptoms include fever, fatigue, abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, loss of appetite and weight loss, anemia, skin changes, arthritis and more.—
Vanessa Etienne,
PEOPLE,
29 Sep. 2025
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The disinformation pushed by these types of influencers confuses audiences, leaves them less informed, and erodes trust in actual journalism.—
Taylor Lorenz,
HollywoodReporter,
17 Sep. 2025
Verb
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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
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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
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The new work overturns that picture.—
Kaif Shaikh,
Interesting Engineering,
10 Sep. 2025
-
The decision overturns a ruling by a lower-court judge in 2023 who had declared the law unconstitutional after previously blocking it from taking effect in 2021.—
Reuters,
NBC news,
13 Aug. 2025
Verb
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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
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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
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Why ban books, Postman asked, if no one bothers to read them?—
Time,
Time,
10 Sep. 2025
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What bothers her most is how the refusal seemed to change her brother’s behavior.—
Ashley Vega,
PEOPLE,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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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
Cite this Entry
“Confounds.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/confounds. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.
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