confound
pronunciation
How to pronounce confound in British English:
UK [kənˈfaʊnd]
How to pronounce confound in American English:
US [kənˈfaʊnd]
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- Verb:
- be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly
- mistake one thing for another
Word Origin
- confound
- confound: [13] Latin confundere literally meant ‘pour together’; it was a compound verb formed from the prefix com- ‘together’ and fundere ‘pour’ (source of English found ‘melt’ and fuse). This sense was later extended figuratively to ‘mix up, fail to distinguish’, a meaning which passed via Old French confondre into English. Meanwhile, the Latin verb’s past participle, confusus, came to be used as an adjective; in Old French this became confus, which English acquired in the 14th century as confuse.This was soon assimilated to the normal pattern of English past participial adjectives as confused, from which the new verb confuse, was coined.=> confuse, found, fuse
- confound (v.)
- c. 1300, "make uneasy, abash," from Anglo-French confoundre, Old French confondre (12c.) "crush, ruin, disgrace, throw into disorder," from Latin confundere "to confuse," literally "to pour together, mix, mingle," from com- "together" (see com-) + fundere "to pour" (see found (v.2)). The figurative sense of "confuse, fail to distinguish, mix up" emerged in Latin, passed into French and thence into Middle English, where it is mostly found in Scripture; the sense of "destroy utterly" is recorded in English from c. 1300. Meaning "perplex" is late 14c. The Latin past participle confusus, meanwhile, became confused (q.v.).
Example
- 1. Confront her , confound her soul !
- 2. It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery .
- 3. To confound the tax authorities and save the odd million was clever sport .
- 4. Thou therefore gird up thy loins , and arise , and speak unto them all that I command thee : be not dismayed at their faces , lest I confound thee before them .
- 5. In freight industry gradually show period , we seek eps systematism specialization , tries to contracting enterprise gateway and rapid processing variety of sudden confound punishment .