disquiet
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
-
disquiets,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disquieted,
past participle, past
-
disquieting
present participle
adjective
noun
verb
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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disquietednessnoun
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disquietingadjective
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undisquietedadjective
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disquietedlyadverb
-
disquietinglyadverb
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disquietlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
disquietsimple
-
disquietssimple
-
have disquietedperfect
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has disquietedperfect
-
am disquietingprogressive
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are disquietingprogressive
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is disquietingprogressive
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have been disquietingperfect progressive
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has been disquietingperfect progressive
Past
-
disquietedsimple
-
had disquietedperfect
-
was disquietingprogressive
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were disquietingprogressive
-
had been disquietingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disquiet
First recorded in 1520–30; dis- 1 + quiet in the sense “freedom from disturbance or tumult”
Explanation
If you feel a sense of disquiet, you're worried or anxious about something. Disquiet at the dinner table means that everyone feels upset or on edge. You can use the word disquiet as a noun or a verb. A feeling of disquiet might fill you as you walk slowly through a truly spooky haunted house. You can also say that a low, frightening sound coming from the room ahead disquiets you. The word dates from the 1500s, a combination of dis, "lack of" or "not" in Latin, and quiet, from the Latin root quietus, "calm, at rest, or free from exertion."
Vocabulary lists containing disquiet
A Thousand Splendid Suns
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Don't Panic! Synonyms for "Stress"
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The Picture of Dorian Gray
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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:
There is though some disquiet at ITN, which has made news bulletins for ITV ever since the channel launched in 1955.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
U.S. stocks ended slightly higher after another tug-of-war day for markets as AI fever contended with Mideast disquiet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
The report had caused disquiet in South Korea, where the system is a pillar of national defense against nuclear-armed North Korea.
From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026
Cumming hinted at ongoing global disquiet without going too far or getting too pointed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 22, 2026
Why art thou sad, my soul, and why dost thou disquiet me, chanted the priest in his deep rich voice.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
Cromwell identifies: “I have travelled so far to get here, and nothing they do disturbs me now, nor disquiets me, high on my branch.”
From Slate ● Mar. 12, 2020
The Second Half, which is due in the autumn, is billed as a blend of "memoir and motivational writing in a manner which both disquiets and reassures, in Roy Keane's own original voice".
From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2014
Unhappy old man!" said the knight, "mayhap it is neither the blood nor the dead that disquiets you.
From The Childhood of King Erik Menved An Historical Romance by Bernhard Severin Ingemann
This fable is designed to show us how unreasonable many people are for living in such continual fears and disquiets about the miserableness of their condition.
From ?sop's Fables, Embellished with One Hundred and Eleven Emblematical Devices. by ?sop
But one thing disquiets me—if the letter was destroyed for M. de Mayenne, it is also destroyed for me.
From The Forty-Five Guardsmen by Alexandre Dumas père
The vast fortunes created by men such as Ford have long disquieted many intellectuals and journalists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 10, 2026
Many here see her as the embodiment of an America undergoing a cultural shift that threatens the heritage and political sensibilities of an old frontier town disquieted by changing times and suspicious of alternative lifestyles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2024
Japanese officials have also been disquieted by a series of joint military exercises conducted by China and Russia in the region.
From New York Times ● Jan. 11, 2023
One sat above the living room sofa, leering at disquieted visitors.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2022
That disquieted him more than he could say.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Golding is writing about the instability of the self, after all, and his prose enacts that instability: shifting perspectives and uncertain ground, relieved by moments of sudden, disquieting clarity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
This story of two strangers who take a job on a fishing boat — their lives are irrevocably altered once they return to shore — slowly pulls you inside its disquieting design.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
The concept came about in 2019, when anonymous users on message board 4chan were asked to "post disquieting images that just feel 'off'."
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
The movie’s real draw is its blissfully sinister sound design, which utilizes the podcaster lifestyle to go full maximalist while the film’s visual landscape remains sparse and disquieting.
From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2026
That name the hobbits only knew in legends of the dark past, like a shadow in the background of their memories; but it was ominous and disquieting.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
