unnerving

[ uhn-nur-ving ]

adjective

depriving a person of courage, strength, determination, or confidence; disconcerting: There's nothing easy about job hunting, but if asked to pinpoint the most unnerving part of the process, many would say it's interviewing.

Origin of unnerving

The electric pulse guns have lots of tiny needles and are unnerving to behold.
mRNA Technology Gave Us the First COVID-19 Vaccines. It Could Also Upend the Drug Industry | Walter Isaacson | January 11, 2021 | Time
While the move befitted Netflix’s “earn your place each year” corporate ethos, it has unnerved employees within its original programming division and been followed by three more content executives leaving the company.
Digital publishers hunt for home on connected TV | Tim Peterson | November 4, 2020 | Digiday
So much of what is considered “romantic” is actually inappropriate, pressuring, or unnerving.
Public Marriage Proposals Must Die | Tauriq Moosa | December 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Through it all, Chris Hughes nodded approvingly, an unnerving grin on his face.
Facebook Prince Purges The New Republic: Inside the Destruction of a 100-Year-Old Magazine | Lloyd Grove | December 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The Daily Mail reports that Mr Anderson Wheeler, 34, said: “I found it very harassing and unnerving.”
How A British Aristocrat Used Big Game Hunter’s Sperm To Get Pregnant Without His Permission | Tom Sykes | December 2, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST

Hearing the names of places students frequent on the national news has been unnerving, students told The Daily Beast.
Person of Interest Identified in Disappearance of UVA Student Hannah Graham | Julia Horowitz | September 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The result is an intimate and unnerving dive into their relationship narrated by the two subjects.
When the Son of Hamas Spied for Israel | Nina Strochlic | August 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
I think there can be nothing else in life quite like the unnerving realisation that rumour and scandal are afoot about one.
The New Machiavelli | Herbert George Wells
But when Bart looked in the mirror he felt no unexpected shock, only an unnerving revulsion.
The Colors of Space | Marion Zimmer Bradley
The darkness was intense, the narrow passage draughty, and the column thrilled and quivered in an unnerving manner.
The Pillar of Light | Louis Tracy
His eyes, frowning beneath wrinkled brows, seemed to ask if he were not the victim of some unnerving hallucination.
The Pillar of Light | Louis Tracy
They were dark and beautifully shaped and made an almost unnerving contrast with her corn-coloured hair.
December Love | Robert Hichens

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