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more about confounding
confounding |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Confound \Con*found"\ (k[o^]n*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}. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: confounding adj : that confounds or contradicts or confuses [syn: {contradictory}] n : a mistake that results from taking one thing to be another; "he changed his name in order to avoid confusion with the notorious outlaw" [syn: {confusion}, {mix-up}]
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