Con-fūte′, v. t.

[imp. & p. p. CONFUTED; p. pr. & vb. n. CONFUTING.] [Lat. confutare, from con and futare, to argue; Sp. confutar, It. confutare.] 1. To overwhelm by argument; to convict beyond the possibility of reply; to put to silence; to overcome. Satan stood . . . confuted and convinced Of his weak arguing and fallacious drift. Milton. 2. To overthrow by argument; to prove to be false or defective; to disprove; as, to confute an error. I confute a good profession with a bad conversation. T. Fuller. Syn.—To disprove; overthrow; set aside; refute; oppose.—TO CONFUTE, REFUTE. These words rest on the old Latin verb futare, the same as fundere, to pour. Refute is literally to pour back, and hence denotes to repel by appropriate and decisive evidence; as, to refute an argument, charge, &c. Confute is literally to pour together, as when cold water is poured upon hot, thus serving to allay, bring down, or neutralize completely. Hence, as applied to arguments (and the word is never applied, like refute, to charges), it denotes to overwhelm by evidence which puts an end to the case, and leaves an opponent nothing to say; as, “the atheist is confuted by the whole structure of things around him.” But since no reason can confute ye, I'll try to force you to your duty.” Hudibras. Instead of racking fancy to refute, Reform thy manners, and the truth enjoy. Young.