What's the difference between confound and thwart?

Confound


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To mingle and blend, so that different elements can not be distinguished; to confuse.
  • (v. t.) To mistake for another; to identify falsely.
  • (v. t.) To throw into confusion or disorder; to perplex; to strike with amazement; to dismay.
  • (v. t.) To destroy; to ruin; to waste.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Previous studies have not always controlled for socioeconomic status (SES) of mothers or other potential confounders such as gestational age or birthweight of infants.
  • (2) Displacing potencies for dopamine in the nanomolar range are associated with agonist-specific D-3 receptor binding and it is predicted that the component of D-2 binding with high agonist affinity may play a confounding role in many D-3 receptor studies.
  • (3) Frequently, however, only incomplete data on confounders can be obtained from sources such as next-of-kin or co-workers.
  • (4) Among all subgroups, the odds ratios adjusted for pertinent confounders and interactions fluctuated randomly by about 0.9 and showed no consistent trend with increased alcohol consumption.
  • (5) The possibility of applying Signal Detection Theory (SDT) to gustation was investigated by testing the effect of three variables--smoking, signal probability, and food intake (confounded with time of day)--on the taste sensitivity to sucrose of 24 male and 24 female Ss.
  • (6) They also include difficulties peculiar to the condition of mild mental retardation, including the choice of method of classification whether by IQ testing or administratively; the heterogeneous nature of the individuals so characterised; and the confounding effects of social and biological factors and the changes in the implications for the affected individual of the condition, depending on age, sex and environment.
  • (7) Practitioners must be aware of the potential for interactions between (and confounding by) commercially used feed components.
  • (8) A weakness was in not including confounding factors such as social class and the lack of detailed questions on topics.
  • (9) In practice, confounding by factors related to exposure opportunity is common.
  • (10) By using a national sample we ensured that the influence of regional variations in the configuration of long-term care services would not confound estimates of the relative effect of client-related factors.
  • (11) The independent effects of separation and display size, which were confounded in the Sagi and Julesz experiments, were examined.
  • (12) In particular, it is shown that adjustment for a misclassified confounding variable can be greatly improved by using the methods presented.
  • (13) Possible confounding effects of missing data, institutionalization prior to adoption, information given to adoptive parents by the adoption agencies about the child's biological background, historical period, perinatal factors, and selective placement were considered.
  • (14) I argue that (a) the procedures they used to study confounding were suboptimal because multiple measures of depression and catastrophizing were not employed and (b) the distinctiveness of constructs might better be regarded as a continuous rather than all-or-none (having adequate discriminant validity versus being confounded) concept.
  • (15) The observed relation between physical activity and colon cancer was not confounded by dietary intake of calories, fat, or protein, nor was the diet and colon cancer relation confounded by physical activity (odds ratios for calories, protein, and fat in males were 2.40, 2.57, and 2.18, respectively).
  • (16) It is this "multiple system failure" that compounds the effects of large scale events and confounds emergency response.
  • (17) To control for possible confounding variables, the authors repeated the analyses after stratifying by demographic and diagnostic variables that were distributed differently among men and women.
  • (18) Some recent reports implicate marijuana smoking as a cause of cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract, though most of the subjects were exposed to other, possibly confounding, etiologic factors, namely tobacco and alcohol.
  • (19) With the use of the logistic regression method, an adjusted OR was obtained after controlling various confounders.
  • (20) The purpose of this study was to examine the association between maternal caffeine consumption and low birthweight, intrauterine growth retardation, and prematurity, adjusting for multiple confounders.

Thwart


Definition:

  • (a.) Situated or placed across something else; transverse; oblique.
  • (a.) Fig.: Perverse; crossgrained.
  • (a.) Thwartly; obliquely; transversely; athwart.
  • (prep.) Across; athwart.
  • (n.) A seat in an open boat reaching from one side to the other, or athwart the boat.
  • (v. t.) To move across or counter to; to cross; as, an arrow thwarts the air.
  • (v. t.) To cross, as a purpose; to oppose; to run counter to; to contravene; hence, to frustrate or defeat.
  • (v. i.) To move or go in an oblique or crosswise manner.
  • (v. i.) Hence, to be in opposition; to clash.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The disappointing weather at Easter left beaches deserted but some Britons, who were determined to enjoy the outdoors this time round, have already had their plans thwarted by the weather, taking to websites such as ukcampsite.co.uk to swap tales of woe, such as farmers calling to cancel bookings because sites were waterlogged.
  • (2) Bryan Hopkins Sheffield • David Cameron says he wants to tackle segregation between schools ( Four steps to thwart creation of ‘a barbaric realm’ , 21 July).
  • (3) As for the speaker in parliament Thura Shwe Mann, a former general, he has formed an improbable alliance with Aung San Suu Kyi, on the assumption that she might help him thwart the plans of his former cronies.
  • (4) In the recent local and European parliament elections, Labour gained 300 councillors and boosted its number of MEPs, but saw Ukip thwart its progress in key target areas, make gains in traditional party heartlands and top the European poll.
  • (5) But concerns about a slowing economy, jobs, civil rights and a lack of progress in the Kurdish peace process appear to have combined with worries that Erdoğan could assume quasi-dictatorial powers to thwart the president’s ambitions.
  • (6) A standoff between the two houses of parliament threatens to thwart a government-backed crackdown on multinational tax avoidance and a Labor-backed plan to increase tax transparency.
  • (7) So President Mujica may be thinking: "why not take the risk and embrace the possibility of becoming the first marijuana hero and the man who thwarted drug dealers?"
  • (8) The cataractogenic effect of oxyradicals, however, can be thwarted by nutritional and metabolic antioxidants such as ascorbate, vitamin E, and pyruvate.
  • (9) However, the over-riding view is that with Global's plan to buy GMG Radio outright all but thwarted, senior executives at German-owned Bauer will be breathing a sigh of relief.
  • (10) Experts say there are other arms of the federal octopus that could be squeezed in a bid to thwart Obama’s deferred action schemes, but even that would not affect the directive that tells immigration officials to focus on deporting “felons, not families”.
  • (11) The solution is for Hathaway to spend a year in sarky Manchester, where her attempts to go jogging will be thwarted by 324 days of rain, and if she so much as thinks about telling a Mancunian barmaid that she has poured those lagers fantastically well, she will swiftly learn an aloofness not taught in any American drama school.
  • (12) The report finds the company "deliberately" tried to "thwart" the 2005-6 Metropolitan police investigation into phone hacking carried out by the tabloid.
  • (13) But imperial Britain was not thwarted in any of these wars – however questionable we may now judge those conflicts to have been.
  • (14) This year the weather has tended to thwart these hopes, although after "the summer of sport" we might all need a break.
  • (15) Qerdaha is the heart of Alawite Syria , a hub for senior army officers and Shabiha, the pro-Assad militia accused of tremendous brutality in their three-year campaign to thwart the rebel uprising.
  • (16) 1.44am BST Rangers 2-1 Kings, 12:50, 2nd period Lewis stick handles towards the net but is thwarted by McDonagh, who is all over the place this game.
  • (17) The secret vote was an attempt to thwart the bill before it is put to a general vote.
  • (18) Part of the problem is procedural: that the will of the church’s parliament, the General Synod, is easily thwarted by a tiny minority of its members.
  • (19) Chloro substituents in the ring of other methoxylated benzoic acids also arrested their normal metabolism by the Nocardia: an ortho-chloro substituent thwarted both demethylation and ring-opening.
  • (20) The Liberal Democrat input is the second time they have helped thwart Gove's policies.