confoundingly
1
8.4
- adverb
- /kənˈfaʊndɪŋli/
:
confundidamente
- Well, there is something curiously and, and confoundingly appealing about your gravelly voiced drawl that seems to draw people into your life and all its drama.
Let's talk about the new iPhone access, which, confoundingly, is not, in fact, a tiny iPhone.
- Let's talk about the new iPhone access, which, confoundingly, is not, in fact, a tiny iPhone.
Examples
-
She spoke in a confoundingly complicated way that made the topic hard to understand.
-
Let's talk about the new iPhone access, which, confoundingly, is not, in fact, a tiny iPhone.
-
Confoundingly, it struggled back and fought to remain upright.
Fiction book (1996) -
His tapping told him when areas were quiet, and George did confirm his forays, though confoundingly after the fact.
Fiction book (1999) -
More confoundingly still, his high-level recommendations tend to shift from chapter to chapter to align with whatever anecdote he's telling.
Blog text (5) -
Boys for Pele is a sprawling, brilliant mess of an album, Amos' third but her first self-produced and blissfully, confoundingly self-indulgent.
Blog text (13) -
The instructions were confoundingly difficult to follow, leaving everyone confused.
-
The math problem was confoundingly tricky, causing even the brightest students to struggle.
Synonyms
29
6.9
In a way that cannot be explained or understood
5
6.7
In a way that is not clear or logical
3
4.0
In a way that makes it hard to understand
2
8.0
It is very hard to understand
2
8.1
In a way that is very hard to understand
1
8.4
In a way that is very surprising and hard to understand
1
8.3
In a mysterious way that is hard to understand
1
8.2
In a confusing way that makes something hard to understand
1
6.9
In a way that people cannot understand
1
7.9
In a way that makes something hard to understand
1
6.1
In a way that is confusing and hard to understand
1
7.9
In a way that is hard to understand
1
8.0
In a way that is confusing and hard to understand
1
9.6
In a way that hides what someone feels and is hard to understand
1
4.4
Not clear or hard to understand
In a way that makes something hard to understand
In a way that shows strong annoyance or surprise
In a way that is hard to understand or does not match what you expect
How Confused
Surface Forms
Morphology
confoundingly = confounding (transparent) = confound + ing + ly
The adverb is formed by adding -ly to 'confounding' (confuse -> confounding), and its meaning ('in a confusing way') follows directly from the base.
Etymology
Confoundingly comes from the verb confound, which has parts con- 'together' and fundere 'to pour'. The image is of things 'poured together' and mixed so you cannot tell them apart, so something confoundingly is very confusing or hard to understand.