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# confound

verb (confounds, confounded, confounding)

«confound» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To confound someone is to confuse them so badly that they cannot think clearly. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/confound/#m1)
2. To confound a plan is to defeat it or spoil it. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/confound/#m2)
3. (exclamation) «Confound it!» is an old way of saying «Blast it!» when something goes wrong. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/confound/#m3)

### In the lessons

in the lessons, to mix up the innocent with the guilty, or to baffle and beat an enemy by a trick or fog

### Examples

- The puzzle began to confound me. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/confound/#x1)
- The magician's fog was meant to confound the soldiers. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/confound/#x2)
- Do not confound the innocent with the guilty. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/confound/#x3)
- «Confound it!» cried the farmer when his cart stuck in the mud. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/confound/#x4)

### Note

nothing changes a count, but if you confound two numbers in a sum, the answer will be wrong.

## In Jewish tradition

At Babel God confounded the language of the people so they could no longer understand one another.

**Interpretation.** The story is read as explaining why humans speak many languages, and as a warning against pride. The name Babel is linked to the Hebrew word for mixing.

### Examples

- Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.' (Torah GEN.11.7, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/confound/#x1)
- Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (Torah GEN.11.9, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/confound/#x2)

### Note

nothing changes a count, but if you confound two numbers in a sum, the answer will be wrong.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «confound» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/confound/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«confound» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/confound.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «confound» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/confound/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«confound» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/confound.html) on Mova free.