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:
Eve dishevel Your hair for the bliss-drenched revel On our primal loam.
From Look! We Have Come Through! by Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert)
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 Snyder, Charles M.
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 Mackay, Eric
Shake down thy hair and dishevel it, so!—that is excellent.
From The Twilight of the Gods, and Other Tales by Garnett, Richard
“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 Yonge, Charlotte Mary
When Jackie was rescued from the shore of Big Bear Lake, she was underweight and disheveled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
“Also, her feathers were very disheveled, which is not normal for a healthy bird,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 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
A disheveled man sick of endless waiting launched into an eloquent tirade ending with Samuel Beckett -- "You know what happened in the story of Godot? He never came."
From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026
He’ll be behind the counter, bored and dreamy and adorably disheveled.
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
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 Prouty, Olive Higgins
Alison said the men made it to the villa in a dishevelled state.
From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2025
His background - a teacher, a football coach, an Army National Guard enlisted soldier - broadcasts "meat-and-potatoes middle America", as does perhaps his balding, rotund, slightly dishevelled appearance.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2024
During his second stint at the university, Tristram Hunt, the former Labour MP and now head of the V&A Museum, joked that then roommate Mr Kwarteng was "quite ungovernable and dishevelled".
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2022
Her blue eyes still retained their melting quality; and her yellow hair, dishevelled by the wind and rain, kinked more stubbornly than ever about her ears and temples.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 21, 2021
I shouted at her through the dishevelled blanket.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
That interior was singularly restful, pleasant, after the confused and dishevelling night.
From The Three Black Pennys A Novel by Hergesheimer, Joseph
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 Yates, Dornford
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 Jókai, Mór
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.
