discomfit
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to confuse and deject; disconcert.
to be discomfited by a question.
- Synonyms:
- disturb, embarrass, discompose
-
to frustrate the plans of; thwart; foil.
-
Archaic. to defeat utterly; rout.
The army was discomfited in every battle.
noun
verb
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to make uneasy, confused, or embarrassed
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to frustrate the plans or purpose of
-
archaic to defeat in battle
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
discomfitsimple
-
discomfitssimple
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have discomfitedperfect
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has discomfitedperfect
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am discomfitingprogressive
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are discomfitingprogressive
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is discomfitingprogressive
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have been discomfitingperfect progressive
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has been discomfitingperfect progressive
Past
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discomfitedsimple
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had discomfitedperfect
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was discomfitingprogressive
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were discomfitingprogressive
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had been discomfitingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of discomfit
1175–1225; Middle English < Anglo-French descunfit, Old French desconfit, past participle of desconfire, equivalent to des- dis- 1 + confire to make, accomplish < Latin conficere; see confect
Explanation
To discomfit someone is to make them feel uncomfortable or upset. An easy way to discomfit another person is to use the age-old, childish trick of ignoring them. (Of course, we’re sure you would never do that, right? Right?) If you make someone blush, sweat, and generally want to disappear, you’ve discomfited her. Centuries ago, discomfit was used to mean “destroy completely in battle” — an experience that surely left the defeated armies feeling something more than mere discomfort. Some scholars have suggested that the contemporary meaning of discomfit arose due to confusion with the word discomfort. Don’t be discomfited by choosing the wrong word; use this word to mean “embarrass.”
Vocabulary lists containing discomfit
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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.
See Examples For:
He had not yet come out to his parents as gay, and worried such accusations might discomfit his family.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2023
Warhol also embraced camp as a personal style, performing a theatrical effeminacy that equated to a strategic queerness designed to discomfit those among his contemporaries who held him to be "too swish."
From Salon ● Feb. 19, 2022
And the spectacle of nonviolent suffering in a just cause had the potential to discomfit witnesses and render violent and intimidating reprisals less effective.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 3, 2021
It’ll discomfit, even if that discomfiture is being given a beauty so naked that you suddenly can’t pretend you don’t have a soul.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 24, 2019
His affection for the little man increased mightily, but his respectful attitude promptly changed, and a chance to reprove or discomfit his absurdly rich brother-in-law was one of his most satisfactory diversions.
From Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad by Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank)
But in all dealings with Saudi Arabia, Mr. Biden should stand by the principles that Khashoggi so passionately cared for, however much it discomfits the pouty monarch in Riyadh.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 25, 2022
Seeking the worth in art that discomfits you—while vigorously criticizing its faults—isn’t a social studies sideline to your culturally engaged existence.
From Slate ● Jun. 6, 2019
Whatever it meant in the past, and however it discomfits the present, the Aeneid has, alas, always anticipated the future.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 8, 2018
“Little Panic” grips and discomfits in the best way.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2018
Mrs. Cibber still discomfits the melting Mrs. Porter by a tenderness even greater than the best of Belvideras could dispense.
From Shadows of the Stage by Winter, William
It felt a bit like being in a group therapy session in which you alone are the primary and discomfited focus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
And, often, getting discomfited slightly helps that process along.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2024
But he was discomfited by the capricious bounces of last month’s US Open at Pinehurst, a rare event where he failed to trouble the leaderboard operatives.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2024
I’m discomfited, in short, by the Muskian spectacle.
From Slate ● Jan. 3, 2023
Thoroughly discomfited, Ash left her seat rather than wait for Prince Aidan to return.
From "Ash" by Malinda Lo
Either way, the onetime roommates and bandmates pioneered a discomfiting broken-doll aesthetic of smudged eyeliner, smeared lipstick and plastic barrettes clipped to hanks of bleached-out hair.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026
And the revisions pertaining to Jocasta’s marriage to Laius, who was killed in a car accident decades before, bring a discomfiting and topical contemporary edge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
The author says Prescott was in a "class of his own when it came to discomfiting Charles".
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2025
This second rationale is discomfiting because it appears to target speech on the basis of its content, which is rarely permitted under the First Amendment.
From Slate ● Jan. 17, 2025
I never expected to be someone who hired others to maintain my image, and at first the idea was discomfiting.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
