in senses other than 4 kənˈfau̇nd also (ˈ)kän|f-; in sense 4 (ˈ)kän|f- sometimes kənˈf- transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English confounden, from Old French confondre, from Latin confundere to pour together, confuse, from com- + fundere to pour — more at found
1. archaic : to bring to ruin : destroy
a. : to inflict defeat on (as an army or adversary)
b. : to cause to fail : baffle
confound their politics, frustrate their knavish tricks — Henry Carey
2.
a. : spoil , corrupt
their native speech was not confounded with a vulgarized spoken Latin — M.W.Baldwin
b. obsolete : consume , waste
he did confound the best part of an hour in changing hardiment with great Glendower — Shakespeare
3.
a. : to put to shame : discomfit , abash
the influence of … El Greco … lay dormant for centuries and rose to confound the critics of later times — Bernard Smith
b. : to refute especially by argument or demonstration : overthrow
this new arm of science may corroborate or confound the theories of the universe — David England
4. : to send to perdition : damn — used as a mild imprecation
confound it
5. : to throw (a person) into confusion : strike with amazement : stupefy , perplex , confuse
attacks which confounded opponents with bewildering reverses [of direction] — Springfield ( Massachusetts ) Union
6. : to ignore, overlook, or fail to discern a difference between (two or more things) : mistake (one thing) for another : confuse , mingle
they implored Charles not to confound the innocent with the guilty — T.B.Macaulay
7. : to cause or to increase disorder in (an existing situation)
ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, confusion worse confounded — John Milton
to divide Europe as the politicians have done is to invite confusion and to divide the frontier as the Europeans did is to confound the confusion — W.P.Webb
Synonyms: see puzzle