confound

present singular third person confounds · participle present confounding · participle past confounded · past confounded

1. To perplex or puzzle.

   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.

   1830, Joseph Smith, Jr., Book of Mormon: Ether, i, 34

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   The fightback when it came was in the [Roger] 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.

   2012 June 29, Kevin Mitchell, “Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beat Julien Benneteau”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 15 Nov 2016

   Synonyms: puzzle, vex

2. To stun or amaze.
3. To fail to see the difference; to mix up; to confuse right and wrong.

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   They vvho leſſe ſeriouſly conſider the force of vvords, doe ſometimes confound Lavv vvith Counſell, ſometimes vvith Covenant, ſometimes vvith Right. They confound Lavv vvith Counſel, vvho think, that it is the duty of Monarchs not onely to give ear to their Counſellours, but alſo to obey them, as though it vvere in vaine to take Counſell, unleſſe it vvere alſo follovved.

   1651, Tho[mas] Hobbes, “[Dominion.] Chapter XIV. Of Lawes and Trespasses.”, in Philosophicall Rudiments Concerning Government and Society. […], London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond] for R[ichard] Royston, […], →OCLC, page 210

   Synonyms: confuse, mix up, addle, baffle, vex, lose, embroil, stick

4. proscribedsometimesTo make something worse.

   Don't confound the situation by yelling.

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   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.

   1983, Carol M. Anderson, Susan Stewart, Mastering Resistance: A Practical Guide to Family Therapy

5. To combine in a confused fashion; to mingle so as to make the parts indistinguishable.

   There the freſh and ſalt water would meete and be confounded together, […]

   1611, Coryat, Crudities, volume I, page 195

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   Medication and lifestyle factors significantly confound the association with obesity, for which there are few prospective studies and weak evidence for a directly causal relationship, while the association with traumatic brain injury is potentially confounded by ‘accident proneness’ or physical abuse.

   2018 April 26, Tobias A Rowland, Steven Marwaha, “Epidemiology and risk factors for bipolar disorder”, in Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology, volume 8, number 9, →DOI, pages 251–269

6. To cause to be ashamed; to abash.

   His actions confounded the skeptics.

7. To defeat, to frustrate, to thwart.

   But God hath choſen the fooliſh things of the woꝛld, to confound the wiſe: and God hath choſen the weake things of the woꝛld, to confound the things which are mighty:

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Corinthians 1:27

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   O Lord our God ariſe, / Scatter his enemies, / And make them fall: / Confound their politics, / Fruſtrate their knaviſh tricks, / On him our hopes we fix, / O ſave us all.

   a. 1745, unknown author, “God Save the King”, in The Gentleman's Magazine, volume 15, page 552

   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.

8. datedTo damn (a mild oath).

   Confound you!

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   Confound the lady!

   "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.

   1882, Arthur Conan Doyle, “My Friend the Murderer”, in The Gully of Bluemansdyke and Other Stories

   "Confound these bearing reins!" he said to himself; "I thought we should have some mischief soon—master will be sorely vexed;[…]"

   [1877], Anna Sewell, “A Strike for Liberty”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, page 107

9. archaicTo destroy, ruin, or devastate; to bring to ruination.

   To mortal men, he with his horrid crew / Lay vanquiſht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe / Confounded though immortal: But his doom[…]

   1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 51–53

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   Imagine twenty thouſand of them breaking into the midſt of an European Army, confounding the Ranks, overturning the Carriages, battering the Warriors Faces into Mummy, by terrible Yerks from their hinder Hoofs.

   1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Veracity. His Design in Publishing this Work. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page 345

plural confounds

1. mathematicsA confounding variable.

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   The participants certainly differ in how their practice is distributed (1, 2, or 3 days), but they also differ in how much total practice they get (3, 6, or 9 hours). This is a perfect example of a confound—it is impossible to tell if the results are due to one factor (distribution of practice) or the other (total practice hours); the two factors covary perfectly.

   2009, C. James Goodwin, Research In Psychology: Methods and Design, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 175

   Synonyms: confounder