Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To cause to become confused or perplexed. synonym: perplex.
- transitive verb To fail to distinguish; mix up.
- transitive verb To make (something bad) worse.
- transitive verb To cause to be ashamed; abash.
- transitive verb Used in mild curses.
- transitive verb To frustrate or thwart.
- transitive verb Archaic To defeat or overthrow (an enemy).
from The Century Dictionary.
- To mingle confusedly together; mix indiscriminately, so that individuals, parts, or elements cannot be distinguished; throw into disorder; confuse.
- To treat or regard erroneously as identical: mix or associate by mistake.
- To throw into confusion; perplex with sudden disturbance, terror, or surprise; stupefy with amazement.
- To destroy; bring to naught; overthrow; ruin; spoil.
- Hence such interjectional phrases as confound it! confound the fellow! which are relics of the fuller imprecations, God confound it! God confound the fellow ! etc.
- To waste or spend uselessly, as time.
- Synonyms See list under
confuse . Confuse, etc. Seeabash .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To mingle and blend, so that different elements can not be distinguished; to confuse.
- transitive verb To mistake for another; to identify falsely.
- transitive verb To throw into confusion or disorder; to perplex; to strike with amazement; to dismay.
- transitive verb obsolete To destroy; to ruin; to waste.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
confuse ; tomix up ; topuzzle . - verb To fail to see the
difference ; to mix up; to confuseright andwrong . - verb To make something worse.
- verb To cause to be
ashamed ; toabash . - verb To
defeat , tofrustrate , tothwart . - verb dated To
damn (a mild oath). - verb archaic To bring to
ruination . - verb To
stun ,amaze - noun statistics a
confounding variable
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly
- verb mistake one thing for another
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word confound.
Examples
-
Then he looked around, saying, How I wish that tug boat would hurry up; no more ten years spent in – confound it! what IS the name of that place?
-
Don't let the long product name confound you: this adapter is very easy to use and comes with software that will let you burn DVDs.
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com John Seed 2011
-
He rushed upon Kanmakan, and they wheeled about awhile, giving blows and taking blows such as confound the sprite and dim the sight; but Kanmakan was the first to smite the foe a swashing blow, that rove through turband and iron skull cap and reached his head, and he fell from his steed with the fall of a camel when he rolleth over.
-
Now he loved science and geometry, and one festival-day as he sat on his kingly throne there came in to him three wise men, cunning artificers and past masters in all manner of craft and inventions, skilled in making things curious and rare, such as confound the wit; and versed in the knowledge of occult truths and perfect in mysteries and subtleties.
-
I see nothing but Danger and Distress, such as confound my Resolution, and non − plus my Courage.
Exilius 2008
-
And it does kind of confound some of us as to why we can ` t do it.
-
I say "confound" because wild rice isn't rice and it isn't grown in California.
Asparagus Roundup VI 2006
-
I say "confound" because wild rice isn't rice and it isn't grown in California.
Herbal Triptych 2006
-
"Confound their politics" -- There are some people even at this day who think that "confound" in the National Anthem is a mild and rather polite swear-word.
-
He rushed upon Kanmakan, who met him in mid-career, and they wheeled about awhile in the dint of battle, exchanging blows such as confound the wit and dim the sight, till Kanmakan took the other at vantage and smote him a swashing blow, that shore through turban and iron skull-cap and reached his head, and he fell from his saddle, as a camel falls, when he rolls over.
The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume II Anonymous 1879
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.