disorganize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disorganizesimple
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disorganizessimple
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have disorganizedperfect
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has disorganizedperfect
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am disorganizingprogressive
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are disorganizingprogressive
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is disorganizingprogressive
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have been disorganizingperfect progressive
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has been disorganizingperfect progressive
Past
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disorganizedsimple
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had disorganizedperfect
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was disorganizingprogressive
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were disorganizingprogressive
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had been disorganizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disorganize
1785–95; < French désorganiser, equivalent to dés- dis- 1 + organiser to organize
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:
Origin: among typesetters, from the verb "pi" meaning to disorganize hopelessly, as a "pied" line of type: cmfw shrdl cmfwy vbgkq etao ET The original "pied" Piper was so-called from his motley costume.
From Time Magazine Archive
It might disorganize Red China's industries and communications, notably coastal shipping.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Hostile forces are trying to create new centers of anarchy, disturb the rhythm of normal work in factories and disorganize the life of the country."
From Time Magazine Archive
"The enemy loosed his attacks on the central front to disorganize the moves of German reserves."
From Time Magazine Archive
It is, basically, a response to propaganda, something like the panic-producing pheromones that slave-taking ants re lease to disorganize the colonies of their prey.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
Blanchard recommends expanding the export controls from defense-related production to “anything which disorganizes production” in the Russian economy.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 20, 2022
“Not only does the current protocol fail to protect students, staff and their families, but it also completely disorganizes schools.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 13, 2022
For the Communists to practice drastic reform as they made war was relatively easy, for in partisan warfare anything that disorganizes society operates to the enemy's disadvantage.
From Time Magazine Archive
The congestion, or overfilling with blood, causes pressure on the brain substance and disorganizes its function.
From Special Report on Diseases of Cattle by United States. Bureau of Animal Industry
When a thunderstorm disorganizes our electric lights for an hour or so we feel it a personal affront.
From Mince Pie by Morley, Christopher
As the hours passed, the people here grew increasingly agitated about a state response that they said was inadequate and disorganized.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
However, many who were active in the effort to stop Mamdani’s election, which ultimately turned out to be a disorganized failure, took that as a sign that defeat was imminent.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
She hurried back as the fires broke containment, but her absence, which her social media posts seemed to obscure, became the symbol of a disorganized response to the disaster.
From Slate ● Jun. 3, 2026
The gravitational forces involved disrupted the SMC's structure and scattered its stars into disorganized motion.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 20, 2026
As we ran, I could hear the disorganized sounds of an entire army trying to jump out of the stands and follow us.
From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan
This double-sax quartet pays homage to Charlie Parker by cutting up, slowing down and disorganizing his compositions.
From New York Times ● Dec. 6, 2018
One progress report notes that she “seemed to contribute a somewhat disorganizing influence to the class.”
From Slate ● Dec. 3, 2015
"If we cannot stop the trend, we should at least take steps to decrease the disorganizing effects."
From Time Magazine Archive
West of Kiev, mobile Soviet columns spread out for 45 miles like the tentacles of a huge octopus, seizing vast booty, disorganizing German resistance.
From Time Magazine Archive
Now, and of a sudden, he was plunged into something which awakened a new, and if not evil, at least disrupting and disorganizing propensity of his character.
From The "Genius" by Dreiser, Theodore
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.
