MEANING
1. To make the effects of separate factors difficult to distinguish in an analysis.
2. To make someone confused or unable to understand.
3. To contradict or overturn a prediction or expectation.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- confound an association
- confound the results
On the page
Differences in age confounded the apparent association.
The study design prevented income from confounding the comparison.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- confound
- Past tense
- confounded
- Past participle
- confounded
- Present participle
- confounding
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- confound
- Present continuous
- am/is/are confounding
- Present perfect
- have/has confounded
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been confounding
- Past
- confounded
- Past continuous
- was/were confounding
- Past perfect
- had confounded
- Past perfect continuous
- had been confounding
- Future
- will confound
- Future continuous
- will be confounding
- Future perfect
- will have confounded
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been confounding
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: confound; confounds; confounded; confounded; confounding Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: confounds.
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