confounding

[ kon-foun-ding, kuhn- ]

adjective

1. perplexing or bewildering:

   He’s hosting an evening of readings from some of the most sensational and confounding cases of Sherlock Holmes.

2. throwing someone or something into confusion or disorder:

   Still in shock, his wife broke the confounding news that their only son had been killed by a stray bullet.

3. Statistics. interacting with both the dependent and independent variables in an experiment or study, making it impossible to determine a causal effect between them:

   The authors list potential confounding factors, but it is not clear from the paper whether all of these were controlled for in the analyses.

noun

1. the act of perplexing, bewildering, causing confusion or disorder, etc.:

   The Jaredite civilization is supposed to have formed in the wake of the miraculous confounding of languages at the Tower of Babel.

2. the act of treating or viewing different things as if they were the same:

   I have always found the confounding of Christmas and Hanukkah disturbing.

Other Words From

• con·found·ing·ly adverb
• un·con·found·ing adjective
• un·con·found·ing·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of confounding¹

First recorded in 1425–75; confound ( def ) + -ing ²( def ) for the adjective senses; confound ( def ) + -ing ¹( def ) for the noun senses

Example Sentences

In each pairing, one state has imposed tough and sometimes unpopular restrictions on behavior, only to be confounded by a neighbor’s leniency.

From ProPublica

What confounded him was that we’d chosen to celebrate such a special occasion with, of all dishes, turkey.

From Fortune

As in the New York study, the researchers also accounted for confounding factors, but they calculated survival rates instead of mortality rates.

From No Straight News

The roots of this lie in the phenomenon of dynamical chaos among gravitating objects, the confounding but mathematically chartable instability and unpredictability of celestial motions.

From Nautilus

Even biologists and ecologists who might be inclined to mistrust an intruding physicist praise Gore’s respectful attitude toward their field and say that he’s making real headway on problems that have long confounded them and their colleagues.

From Quanta Magazine

But it is unfounded fear by an American public at minimal risk of contracting the illness that is confounding those efforts.

From The Daily Beast

But their action just proved another confounding piece of this negligent puzzle.

From The Daily Beast

They were simply seen as easy, wealthy targets, confounding local conventions of the time.

From The Daily Beast

One of the most confounding aspects of the process, these officials say, is why the State Department is seen as largely untouchéd.

From The Daily Beast

Margaret Thatcher was a woman: a confounding, irrepressible, flirtatious, stubborn, certitudinous, unabashedly conservative woman.

From The Daily Beast

This acute thinker seems to me to have fallen into a mistake by confounding land with labor.

From Project Gutenberg

Confounding realization then was that when Dale returned with her sister, Helen knew she would do the same thing over again!

From Project Gutenberg

Even experienced fishermen are capable of confounding the bull trout with its nobler brother of the streams.

From Project Gutenberg

To my utter confounding, Jason threw himself on the floor, kicking and beating it violently and letting out terrific yells.

From Project Gutenberg

Second, the people rejoice, and their pious faith seems to tend to the glory of God and the confounding of his enemies.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• confusion
• error
• misconception
• misinterpretation
• misjudgment
• mistake
• mix up