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
It may be he is right: it is not for me to gainsay him, or to further discompose his temper, when all the evidence is so plainly visible.
From Seeds of Pine by Canuck, Janey
His complexion may trouble the physiologists; but is not likely to discompose the poetical reader under the tuition of Christopher North.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 355, May 1845 by Various
I do not wish to discompose you, Madam," said Mr. Talton, coolly; "pray be seated.
From The Mysterious Wanderer, Vol. III A Novel in Three Volumes by Reeve, Sophia
"I have had something more than fatigue to discompose me," answered I, sobbing; "and I think I have some reproaches to make you, for not attending me home as you promised."
From The Sylph, Volume I and II by Cavendish, Georgiana
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
The young man Sorve, not at all discomposed, led me on and brought me into the Inner Hearth to the Lord of Estre.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Here, lines define the two figures while simultaneously discomposing and merging them.
From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2021
They could then concentrate their minds upon their art free from those hundred-and-one discomposing and disconcerting influences which are the concomitants of modern civilisation.
From The Empire of the East by Montgomery, H. B. (Helen Barrett)
But the interlude, in itself discomposing, had composed my nerves for the while.
From Poison Island by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
This last view is not popular, and when brought home to the invader has proved at times extremely discomposing.
From Where the Pavement Ends by Russell, John
He had not learned before that ladies' eyes are sometimes very discomposing.
From Alec Forbes of Howglen by MacDonald, George
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.
