Dictionary

unconfound en · VERB

Etymology

From un- + confound.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To free from a state of confusion.
   • they boast to be the throne and scepter of Christ, abſolve him, unconfound him, though unconverted, unrepentant, unſenſible of all thir pretious Saints and Martyrs whose blood they have ſo oft laid upon his head 1649, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates: […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], published 1649 (2nd printing), →OCLC:
   • Perhaps the following material, taken from the "Technocracy Study Course" will serve to "unconfound" some of the utterances we hear, which surely must be intended to "confound." 1975, The Northwest Technocrat - Volumes 37-42, page 17:
   • But the greatest and most crucial help has come from my wife Lynn. Although not a mathematician, she managed to unconfound much of this mathematician's gibberish. 2004, Algorithmic Graph Theory and Perfect Graphs, page xix:
2. To distinguish between things or situations that have been combined in a way that makes them indistinguishable.
   • There are several ways to unconfound correlated predictors, all of which use some variant of the subtractive method. 2012, Norman Frederiksen, Robert J. Mislevy, Test Theory for A New Generation of Tests, page 53:
   • I reckon that my god-ſon now begins to chatter, and to confound two or three languages. No matter; they are ſo much clear gain to him, and in time he will unconfound them of himſelf . 1779, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Miscellaneous Works of Lord Chesterfield, page 161:
   • The most important question, however, is whether he can easily put those observations together and unconfound the effects of role and gender on trait ascriptions. 2005, David J. Schneider, The Psychology of Stereotyping:
   • In short, it is very hard to create test items that unconfound grammatically and fragment composition. 2013, Axel Cleeremans, Robert French, Implicit Learning and Consciousness, page 103:
   • What you need to do is unconfound the nicotine intake from the other smoking-associated stimuli. 2006, Gregory R. Bock, Jamie A. Goode, Understanding Nicotine and Tobacco Addiction, page 62:

Forms