disturbed
Americanadjective
-
marked by symptoms of mental illness.
a disturbed personality.
-
agitated or distressed; disrupted.
disturbed seas; a disturbed situation.
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disturbed
Explanation
If something is disturbed, it's been moved or changed — it's not positioned or functioning the way it usually does. Traveling across the globe gives many people disturbed sleep patterns. If your younger brother has been snooping in your room, the only evidence might be the disturbed items on your desk — maybe he rifled through your diary and left it in a different spot. When people are described as disturbed, it means they're troubled emotionally. The word comes from the Latin disturbare, "throw into disorder," and its root turba, "turmoil."
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.
In a widely distributed quote that must have disturbed the leadership at Langley, Bush—who had previously been director of Central Intelligence—reportedly said, “I learn more from CNN than I do from the CIA.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
Birds, including curlews and geese also use the reservoir and there are fears that their habitat has also been disturbed.
From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026
Then a "rumble" disturbed the quiet, says Iryna.
From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026
I have been disturbed to see how seriously many of my patients have taken the panic around microplastics and fertility to heart, as if using wooden cutting boards will negate age-related infertility, for example.
From Slate • Apr. 16, 2026
And when she really didn’t want to be disturbed, she worked in a windowless room in the basement.
From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
