\Con*fute\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Confuted}; p. pr. & vb.
n. {Confuting}.] [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.
      Satan stood . . . confuted and convinced Of his weak
      arguing fallacious drift.                --Milton.
      No man's error can be confuted who doth not . . . grant
      some true principle that contradicts his error.
                                               --Chillingworth.
      I confute a good profession with a bad conversation.
                                               --Fuller.
Syn: To disprove; overthrow; sed aside; refute; oppugn.
Usage: To {Confute}, {Refute.} Refute is literally to and
       decisive evidence; as, to refute a calumny, charge,
       etc. Confute is literally to check boiling, as when
       cold water is poured into 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; to silence; as, ``the atheist
       is confuted by the whole structure of things around
       him.''