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Glite Dictionary
to confute

to confute

9.9
To show a person's idea is wrong using facts or clear arguments
  • verb
  • /kənˈfjuːt/
  • Formal
translation icon : refutar
  • To carry out the challenge, these lords also take up the other trappings of language, entrapping Paroles by employing nonsensical words to confuse and confute the man named after words.

He does not understand when he is confuted, he's an ass, a donkey, you know, a beast of burden.

Examples

  • Then, however, Henry Peacham complicates Puttenham's assessment when he includes among the uses of chiasmus "to distinguish, but most commonly to confute by the inversion of the sentence."

    Academic text (2001)

  • The use serveth properly to praise, dispraise, to distinguish, but most commonly to confute by the inversion of the sentence.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Do not deny the Crucified, for if you deny Him, you have many to confute you.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Many of their own statements confuted one another (e.g., school is a waste of time, but without an education, I cannot become successful;

    Academic text (1993)

  • Thus, although these results indicate differential patterns of feedback awarded to high and low expectancy athletes, they confute assumptions of the self-fulfilling prophecy process.

    Academic text (1996)

  • First, Judas the traitor will confute you; for he who betrayed Him knew that He was condemned to death by the chief priests and the ancients.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Renouncing most of his poetic inheritance - "Confute the sages," he exhorts himself - Williams started over with huge ambition but no plan and only the scraps of a new faith to sustain him: "A poem can be made of anything."

    Academic text (2007)

  • The lawyer was able to confute the witness's false testimony with strong evidence.

  • During the debate, she presented facts that confuted his misguided claims.

  • Historians continue to confute the myth that Napoleon was of short stature by citing reliable sources.

Synonyms

to refute
vsto confute
  • Formal
88 6.2

To show that an idea or statement is false using evidence

is focused on proving wrong especially by argument or evidence
to disprove
vsto confute
66 4.5

To show that an idea or claim is not true

places emphasis on argument and evidence to show wrongness
to debunk
vsto confute
57 5.7

To show that an idea or claim is false with clear facts

leans more on formal proof and argument to establish factual wrongness
to rebut
vsto confute
21 7.0

To say or show that a claim is wrong

relies more on firm proof or evidence to establish falsity
to discredit
vsto confute
16 5.6

To say that something is not true or trustworthy

aims to overturn an argument with direct evidence or formal counterargument
to falsify
vsto confute
12 7.2

To show that an idea or claim is not true

focuses on proving wrong rather than merely suggesting doubt
to disconfirm
vsto confute
1 7.4

To show by facts that an idea or belief is not true

focuses on proving wrong by direct argument or evidence, not only lack of support

Antonyms

to prove
∞ 3.1

To show that something is true by giving facts or reasons

to support
572 2.1

Give facts or evidence that show a claim is true

How Convincing

to refute
  • Formal
88 6.2
to confute
  • Formal
9.9
to counter
190 4.3
to challenge
  • Formal
552 4.3
to deny
∞ 2.0

Surface Forms

confute infinitive
confuted past
confuted past participle
confuting present participle
confutes third person singular

Etymology

The word confute comes from a Latin verb that meant 'to silence' or 'beat down'. So to confute someone is to prove they are wrong and stop their argument, much like the common word refute.