Make Your Point: CONFUTE

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pronounce CONFUTE:

kun FYOOT

connect this word to others:

I like to think of the weird little word confute as a lexical platypus: a strange mix of familiar parts, a word worth knowing and loving, if not for its usefulness then for its illustration of how flexible and comprehensible English words can be.

I said the same for the kooky word educe, built with the familiar bits e-/ex-, "out;" and the Latin ducere, "to lead." Could you explain what it means to educe something?

Looking at confute, we can see it's built with the familiar bits con-, which often means "with, together" but here means "very much, intensely;" and the Latin futare, "to beat." So to confute something is to beat it very much, basically: to reject it, to disprove it, to overwhelm it through the power of evidence or argument.

Confute is a close relative, and even a synonym, of a more common, more familiar word, one that literally means "to beat back." Can you recall it? It's r_f____.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

Like I mentioned, "confute" has Latin bits that literally mean "to beat very much."

We've used it in English since the 1500s.

To confute people, or to confute people's claims or opinions or arguments, is to prove them wrong: to use evidence to show that they're incorrect.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, the transitive kind: "He easily confuted the old theory;" "The old theory was easily confuted."

Other forms:

The other verb forms are "confuted" and "confuting."

People who confute things are "confuters."

For a noun for the action or the result, you can pick between "confutement" and my preference, "confutation." Both are rare.

And if you need an adjective, you can label things as "confuted," "unconfuted," "confutable," and "unconfutable."

how to use it:

When you want to sound particularly serious, academic, and old-fashioned, instead of picking a more familiar synonym like "refute," "disprove," or "contradict," you can pick "confute."

Talk about people confuting claims, ideas, theories, opinions, conclusions, evidence, objections, superstitions and so on.

You can also say that someone confutes someone else, meaning they prove them wrong.

examples:

"No. The story of stones being thrown at him is destitute of all proof but the guard's own assertion, and is confuted by a hundred eye witnesses."
— John Reynolds, Recollections of Windsor Prison, 1839

"A professor of geography does not feel obliged regularly to confute those who believe that the earth is flat."
— Geoffrey Wheatcroft, paraphrasing Richard J. Evans, New York Times, 13 May 2001

has this page helped you understand "confute"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "confute" without saying "disprove" or "refute."

try it out:

Fill in the blank: "(Some claim, belief, or accusation) is so ridiculous that it isn't worth confuting."

Example 1: "As Cory Doctorow has pointed out, the belief that AI can do your job just as well as you can is so ridiculous that it isn't even worth confuting. However, a salesperson for AI can convince your boss of it, and convince them to fire you."

Example 2: "The [accusation of theft] is so ridiculous that it isn't worth confuting."
— Alfred A. Grace, The Tale of Timbertown, 1914

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Literally That."

I’ll give you a gif and several synonyms that describe it, and you figure out which of these synonyms is most literally illustrated in the gif. You can check out some examples here.

Try this one today:

(Source)

A. anchorite
B. misanthrope
C. troglodyte

To see the answer, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. The opposite of CONFUTE could be

A. MIX or BLEND.
B. CLARIFY or EXPLAIN.
C. CONFIRM or CORROBORATE.

2. As Time reported, the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini once said this to a crowd in Rome: "They said that in Rome there is no population of workers. As head of the Government I wish once and for all to confute this _____."

A. grand culture
B. miserable lie
C. hearty workforce

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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