confound
/kənˈfaʊnd/
verb
- To confuse or surprise someone very much by being unexpected or difficult to understand.
- Her sudden decision to quit her job confounded her coworkers.
- The magician's trick confounded the entire audience.
- The complicated instructions confounded the students.
- To prove a person, theory, or expectation wrong; to defeat or foil.
- The new evidence confounded the prosecution's case.
- His recovery confounded the doctors' initial diagnosis.
- The team's victory confounded all the experts who had predicted they would lose.