confound

Meaning

Verb

1. To perplex or puzzle.
2. To stun or amaze.
3. To fail to see the difference; to mix up; to confuse right and wrong.
4. (proscribed, sometimes) To make something worse.
5. To combine in a confused fashion; to mingle so as to make the parts indistinguishable.
6. To cause to be ashamed; to abash.
7. To defeat, to frustrate, to thwart.
8. (dated) To damn (a mild oath).
9. (archaic) To destroy, ruin, or devastate; to bring to ruination.

Noun

A confounding variable.

Synonyms

confuse

perplex

puzzle

bewilder

baffle

frustrate

disconcert

amaze

throw

astonish

bemuse

discompose

jumble

fuddle

agitate

discombobulate

floor

block

becloud

bedevil

befuddle

abash

defeat

derange

destroy

discomfit

disturb

foil

fox

🦊

hinder

mix up

nonplus

stun

stymie

stymy

surprise

thwart

flurry

fluster

flutter

bepuzzle

tousle

complicate

commingle

get

gravel

transpose

inconvenience

intermix

jar

🫙

Translations

confondre

confondere

ανακατώνω

verwarren

confundir

verwechseln

confundir

déconcerter

συγχύζω

verblüffen

verwirren

aturdir

συγχέω

μπερδεύω

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kənˈfaʊnd/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: confounden

In summary

From Middle English confounden (“destroy, ruin, perplex”), from Anglo-Norman cunfundre and Old French confondre, from Latin cōnfundō (“to mingle, mix together”). Related to found (“to melt (metals in a foundry)”) (but not to found (“to start”), nor to find) and to fusion.