disturbing
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disturbing
Explanation
When something really worries or upsets you, you can describe it as disturbing. War photography is usually disturbing. It can be disturbing to see people be hurt, or a child going hungry: it troubles the person who is witnessing such difficulties. Some strange things are also often described as disturbing, such as bizarre clown art or people who walk around dressed in animal costumes. If it bothers and distresses you, it's disturbing. The Latin root, disturbare, combines dis, "completely," with turbare, "to disorder."
Vocabulary lists containing disturbing
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Mockingbird
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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.
The technique is becoming increasingly popular in wildlife research because it allows scientists to study animals without disturbing them.
From Science Daily • May 20, 2026
But human rights activists speak of disturbing patterns.
From BBC • May 17, 2026
“The stranger and more disturbing an incident was, the faster you needed to forget it again.”
From Salon • May 17, 2026
When Max Wolf Friedlich wrote “Job,” which undergoes tonal shifts and ends in a disturbing place, he said he used well-placed jokes to cut the tension.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
While the others at the scene were celebrating the removal of the boulders, Stais had a disturbing thought.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
