discompose
Americanverb (used with object)
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to upset the order of; disarrange; disorder; unsettle.
The breeze discomposed the bouquet.
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to disturb the composure of; agitate; perturb.
The bad news discomposed us.
- Synonyms:
- disconcert, discomfit
verb
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to disturb the composure of; disconcert
-
rare to disarrange
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of discompose
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:
This did not seem to discompose him; on the contrary, he looked rather amused.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
You may answer, perhaps, that you did not like to make a fuss, or seem squeamish, or discompose the company; and so, from timidity, you said ‘the thing that was not.’
From Talkers With Illustrations by Bate, John
Small changes in the household arrangements were likely to discompose him.
From The Preliminaries And Other Stories by Comer, Cornelia A. P.
She had won her point; therefore she was in excellent spirits with all the world, and not even the spilling of some wine on her new silk served to discompose her.
From The Black Moth A Romance of the XVIIIth Century by Heyer, Georgette
The vehemence with which I put this question seemed to discompose my attendant.
From The Devil's Elixir Vol. II (of 2) by Hoffmann, E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus)
Without the injured Albiston, who had failed to emerge after the half-time break, they were crucially discomposed when Sulley took a corner in the sixtieth minute.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 9, 2016
As the poison of jealousy moves through his blood, Leontes’s seething monologues are accompanied by eerie, high-pitched strains in Keith Clouston’s score that cannily evoke the warped perspective of a discomposed mind.
From New York Times ● Jul. 24, 2011
I found Senator Glass lying on top of his counterpane, angrily nursing a bandaged toe, his hair and his pillow and his pajama coat and the bedding discomposed as he tossed to and fro.
From Time Magazine Archive
He would call himself a Radical, and would not be greatly discomposed if someone called him a Socialist.
From Time Magazine Archive
In watching his face, I made quite a firework of the Aged’s sausage, and greatly discomposed both my own attention and Wemmick’s; for which I apologised.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
Here, lines define the two figures while simultaneously discomposing and merging them.
From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2021
There is nothing quite so discomposing as the scornful rejection of proffers of self-seeking philanthropy.
From The Blue Goose by Nason, Frank Lewis
When I had extinguished my candle this one bright patch in the midst of the general gloom had certainly an eerie and discomposing aspect.
From The Great Keinplatz Experiment and Other Tales of Twilight and the Unseen by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir
But all this, though discomposing, was no more than I had begun to expect.
From Wandering Heath by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
The surprise and terror of the poor gentleman is apparent in every limb, as far as is consistent with the fear of discomposing his dress.
From The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings With Descriptions, and a Comment on Their Moral Tendency by Trusler, John
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.
