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Confound: meaning, pronunciation and examples
Confound verb. To surprise or puzzle someone by going against what they expected.
How to say it
kun-FOWND/kənˈfaʊnd/
2 syllables, stressed on the second (FOWND). Forms: confounded, confounds.
Meanings
- To surprise or puzzle someone by going against what they expected.
- In research, to tangle the effect of one factor up with another, so that a result misleads.
Confound in a sentence
The little club confounded the pundits by winning the cup.
Age confounds the study, because the coffee drinkers were also much younger.
Similar and opposite
Similar:
- baffle
- perplex
- bewilder
- confuse
Where confound comes from
From Latin confundere, to pour together or mix up.
Test yourself
Which word fills the gap?
Age _____ the study, because the coffee drinkers were also much younger.
- infer
- quantify
- confound
Show the answer
confound: Age confounds the study, because the coffee drinkers were also much younger.