confute

• POS: Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: con=fute

CIDE DICTIONARY

confute, v. t. [L. confutare to chek (a boiling liquid), to repress, confute; con- + a root seen in futis a water vessel), prob. akin to fundere to pour: cf. F. confuter. See Fuse to melt.].

 To overwhelm by argument; to refute conclusively; to prove or show to be false or defective; to overcome; to silence.  [1913 Webster]
"Satan stood . . . confuted and convinced
Of his weak arguing fallacious drift."  [1913 Webster]
"No man's error can be confuted who doth not . . . grant some true principle that contradicts his error."  [1913 Webster]
"I confute a good profession with a bad conversation."

Syn. -- To disprove; overthrow; sed aside; refute; oppugn.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

confute, v.tr.
1 prove (a person) to be in error.
2 prove (an argument) to be false.

Derivative

confutation n.

Etymology

L confutare restrain

THESAURUS

confute

answer, answer conclusively, antagonize, argue down, be antipathetic, be inimical, beat against, break, clash, collide, conflict, conflict with, confound, contradict, contrapose, contravene, controvert, counter, counteract, counterattack, countercharge, counterclaim, counterpose, countervail, counterwork, cross, crush, defeat, demolish, deny, disconfirm, dismiss, dispose of, evert, finish, floor, go against, go counter to, interfere with, lock horns, make a rebuttal, meet head-on, militate against, nonplus, oppose, oppugn, overthrow, overturn, overwhelm, parry, put to silence, rebut, reduce to silence, refute, rejoin, resist, run against, run counter to, settle, shut up, silence, smash all opposition, squash, squelch, subvert, surrebut, surrejoin, swim upstream, undermine, upset, work against

ROGET THESAURUS

confute

Confutation

VB confute, refute, disprove, parry, negative, controvert, rebut, confound, disconfirm, redargue, expose, show the fallacy of, defeat, demolish, break, overthrow, overturn scatter to the winds, explode, invalidate, silence, put to silence, reduce to silence, clinch an argument, clinch a question, give one a setdown, stop the mouth, shut up, have, have on the hip, not leave a leg to stand on, cut the ground from under one's feet, be confuted, fail, expose one's weak point, show one's weak point, counter evidence.