disquiet
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
adjective
noun
verb
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disquiet
First recorded in 1520–30; dis- 1 + quiet in the sense “freedom from disturbance or tumult”
Explanation
If you feel a sense of disquiet, you're worried or anxious about something. Disquiet at the dinner table means that everyone feels upset or on edge. You can use the word disquiet as a noun or a verb. A feeling of disquiet might fill you as you walk slowly through a truly spooky haunted house. You can also say that a low, frightening sound coming from the room ahead disquiets you. The word dates from the 1500s, a combination of dis, "lack of" or "not" in Latin, and quiet, from the Latin root quietus, "calm, at rest, or free from exertion."
Vocabulary lists containing disquiet
A Thousand Splendid Suns
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Don't Panic! Synonyms for "Stress"
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The Picture of Dorian Gray
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Disquiet doesn’t quite capture the crazed core of Alban Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra, but it comes close to this labyrinthine description of chaos, and it is a Tilson Thomas obsession.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 14, 2022
Disquiet has been growing among pro-remain MPs, and within the legal profession and business community, about what is becoming known as the government’s “kamikaze” approach.
From The Guardian • Oct. 7, 2017
Disquiet about the pace and depth of change grew as the year progressed, and behind the scenes, the bank's second biggest shareholder Aberdeen Asset Management was agitating for change.
From Reuters • Feb. 26, 2015
But the book that first made me fall for Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet, is by the semi-heteronym Bernardo Soares.
From Slate • Mar. 6, 2014
What shall we get by gazing but Disquiet?
From The Works of Aphra Behn, Volume II by Summers, Montague
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
