verb

confound

kuhn-FOWND

Confound (verb) means to completely puzzle or baffle someone. Example: “The magician's trick confounded the entire audience.”

verb

To completely puzzle or baffle someone.

"The magician's trick confounded the entire audience."

"Economists were confounded by the sudden market crash."

To mix up or fail to distinguish between two things.

"It's easy to confound correlation with causation in statistics."

To defeat or ruin someone's plans.

"Her clever counter-argument confounded his whole strategy."

noun

In statistics, a variable that distorts the apparent relationship between two other variables (a "confounding variable").

"Age turned out to be a confound the researchers hadn't controlled for."

How to use confound

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishTo baffle someone, or to mix things up so badly they can't be told apart.

Common mistake

Confound is a bit stronger/more formal than confuse — often used for something that genuinely stumps experts, not just everyday mix-ups.

Easily confused with

confuse →

Word forms

confounded past tense, confounds plural, confounds singular

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Fill the gap

Can you complete this real example?

The magician's trick _____ the entire audience.

Etymology

From Old French confondre, from Latin confundere, "to pour together, mix up" — the same root that gives us "confuse".

Origin: Latin

Synonyms

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throw fox confuse fuddle bedevil befuddle discombobulate

Related words

project hold throw pull cast fox solve disorder

Rhymes for confound

pound wound sound bound found round hound mound abound ground around rebound

See all rhymes for confound →

Frequently asked questions

What does “confound” mean?

The word “confound” means to completely puzzle or baffle someone. In plain terms, to baffle someone, or to mix things up so badly they can't be told apart.

How do you pronounce “confound”?

“Confound” is pronounced kuhn-FOWND (/kənˈfaʊnd/ in IPA).

How do you use “confound” in a sentence?

Here is “confound” used in a sentence: “The magician's trick confounded the entire audience.”

What part of speech is “confound”?

Depending on how it is used, “confound” can be a verb and a noun.

Where does the word “confound” come from?

The word “confound” comes from Latin. From Old French confondre, from Latin confundere, "to pour together, mix up" — the same root that gives us "confuse".

How many meanings does “confound” have?

“Confound” has 4 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: to completely puzzle or baffle someone.

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project hold throw pull cast fox solve disorder