CONFOUND
confuse, confound
(verb) mistake one thing for another; “you are confusing me with the other candidate”; “I mistook her for the secretary”
confuse, throw, fox, befuddle, fuddle, bedevil, confound, discombobulate
(verb) be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly; “These questions confuse even the experts”; “This question completely threw me”; “This question befuddled even the teacher”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
confound (third-person singular simple present confounds, present participle confounding, simple past and past participle confounded)
To perplex or puzzle.
Synonym: puzzle
To fail to see the difference; to mix up; to confuse right and wrong.
Synonyms: confuse, mix up
To make something worse.
To combine in a confused fashion; to mingle so as to make the parts indistinguishable.
To cause to be ashamed; to abash.
To defeat, to frustrate, to thwart.
(dated) To damn (a mild oath).
(archaic) To bring to ruination.
To stun, amaze
Noun
confound (plural confounds)
(statistics) A confounding variable.
Synonym: confounder
Source: Wiktionary
Con*found" (kon*found"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Confounded; p. pr. &
vb. n. Confounding.] [F. confondre, fr. L. confundere, -fusum, to
pour together; con- + fundere to pour. See Fuse to melt, and cf.
Confuse.]
1. To mingle and blend, so that different elements can not be
distinguished; to confuse.
They who strip not ideas from the marks men use for them, but
confound them with words, must have endless dispute.
Locke.
Let us go down, and there confound their language.
Gen. xi. 7.
2. To mistake for another; to identify falsely.
They [the tinkers] were generally vagrants and pilferers, and were
often confounded with the gypsies.
Macaulay.
3. To throw into confusion or disorder; to perplex; to strike with
amazement; to dismay.
The gods confound...
The Athenians both within and out that wall.
Shak.
They trusted in thee and were not confounded.
Ps. xxii. 5.
So spake the Son of God, and Satan stood
A while as mute, confounded what to say.
Milton.
4. To destroy; to ruin; to waste. [Obs.]
One man's lust these many lives confounds.
Shak.
How couldst thou in a mile confound an hour
Shak.
Syn. -- To abash; confuse; baffle; dismay; astonish; defeat; terrify;
mix; blend; intermingle. See Abash.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition