dishevel
Americanverb (used with object)
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to let down, as hair, or wear or let hang in loose disorder, as clothing.
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to cause untidiness and disarray in.
The wind disheveled the papers on the desk.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dishevel
First recorded in 1590–1600; back formation from disheveled
Explanation
To dishevel is to mess up slightly, the way a breeze might dishevel your carefully combed hair. This verb is nearly always used to talk about tousling someone's hair or mussing their clothes or bedding. So you might carefully tuck in your sheets and comforter only to watch your puppy jump on the bed and dishevel them. Or you might reach over and dishevel your little brother's curls when he's looking particularly adorable. The adjective disheveled came first, from the Old French descheveler, "disarrange the hair."
Vocabulary lists containing dishevel
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:
I find it clear and very clarifying, after the innumerable hours I have spent in trying to dishevel him.
From The Letters of William James, Vol. II by William James
Shake down thy hair and dishevel it, so!—that is excellent.
From The Twilight of the Gods, and Other Tales by Richard Garnett
Eve dishevel Your hair for the bliss-drenched revel On our primal loam.
From Look! We Have Come Through! by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
With rant and revel My hair I dishevel, And I am the queen of Astrofelle.
From Love Letters of a Violinist and Other Poems by Eric Mackay
“Know you not ’tis rank treason to discrown our sacred Majesty, far more to dishevel or destroy our locks?
From A Reputed Changeling Or Three Seventh Years Two Centuries Ago by Charlotte Mary Yonge
When Jackie was rescued from the shore of Big Bear Lake weeks ago, she was underweight and disheveled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2026
Found weak and disheveled along the shoreline, the raptor believed to be nest cam star Jackie is receiving care while experts investigate what caused its decline.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
The disheveled 58-year-old, who went by Tony, was a cousin of the recently deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
And while it didn’t exactly fly off the shelves, its concurrence with the height of the Seattle grunge music scene made the disheveled aesthetic a street-style must-have.
From Salon ● Mar. 27, 2026
I could go to the Commander, fall on the floor, my hair disheveled, as they say, grab him around the knees, confess, weep, implore.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
In this stylish, morally disheveling work, there might be less of a distinction than you think.
From New York Times ● Jan. 29, 2019
We come, shoe-strings dragging, skirts impeding, wind disheveling, holding on to inappropriate head-gear, feathers awry, victims of old-time convictions, unadapted to modern conditions, amateur marchers, poorly uniformed—but here we come—just count us—here we come!
From The Fifth Wheel A Novel by Olive Higgins Prouty
They're dishevelled because they've just got off a bus to Glasgow, ahead of show 82.
From BBC ● Jan. 5, 2026
Alison said the men made it to the villa in a dishevelled state.
From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2025
He said that visits by British officials had found his dad was "dishevelled and had lost a lot of weight", while his mum was not walking very well due to prison conditions.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2025
It is a stream of sequins, flags, face paint and sparkly costumes, all a little more dishevelled than they were when the evening began.
From BBC ● May 14, 2023
Wild-eyed and dishevelled, he seemed to shrink back from the light, and closed the door behind us.
From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins
It was an embarras de richesses rarely met with; and in the rich and precious braids the ivory fingers were clutched, dishevelling them, tearing at them, in the excess of pain.
From Dr. Dumany's Wife by Mór Jókai
That interior was singularly restful, pleasant, after the confused and dishevelling night.
From The Three Black Pennys A Novel by Joseph Hergesheimer
As they descended the stairs, Lord Pomfret emerged from the library, cramming cigarettes into his case with the dishevelling manipulation of the belated swain.
From Anthony Lyveden by Dornford Yates
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.
