dishevel
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to let down, as hair, or wear or let hang in loose disorder, as clothing.
-
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:
Shake down thy hair and dishevel it, so!—that is excellent.
From The Twilight of the Gods, and Other Tales by Richard Garnett
Abashed, astounded, the prince retreated a space and looked, with savage intentness, upon the beautiful girl, superb in her denunciation, enchanting in the rebellious dishevel of her hair, the indignant rebuke of her eyes.
From The Flaw in the Sapphire by Charles M. Snyder
“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
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
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
But in mid-July, Jackie was found weak, disheveled and unable to fly on the north shore of the lake following a scuffle with two younger eagles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
She was underweight with disheveled feathers and feet caked with mud.
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
His shoulders sagged, and the line of his changshan was mussed, making him seem worn-out and disheveled.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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
When the security forces went in, they found a dishevelled 69-year-old man who had suffered several strokes.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
But Mr Bennett told BBC Radio Kent that British officials saw his father was "dishevelled and had lost a lot of weight", while his mother was not walking well due to prison conditions.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2025
He says that John was dishevelled and confused: "He was just abandoned. He hardly went out of that room and it was in a terrible state."
From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2025
"He is believed to be more dishevelled than he appears in the photo with longer hair and an unkempt beard," a Met spokesperson said.
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2024
I shouted at her through the dishevelled blanket.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
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
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
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.
