disruptive

adjective

dis·​rup·​tive dis-ˈrəp-tiv 

: disrupting or tending to disrupt some process, activity, condition, etc. : causing or tending to cause disruption

a disruptive weather pattern

It is hoped that, if the child learns that disruptive behavior brings no rewards, his tantrums will diminish and perhaps stop.

—Susan Sheehan

In recent years, airlines began to carry plastic handcuffs as a way to restrain disruptive passengers.

—Erik Holm

Other teammates marvel at how easily he morphs from a mild-mannered family man in the locker room into a disruptive force on the field.

—Jefri Chadiha

disruptively adverb

acting disruptively

disruptiveness noun

… the disruptiveness of climatic change will depend strongly on the rate of change.

—Roger Revelle

Examples of disruptive in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Oliver points out that this practice has since been found disruptive to bats and has fallen out of favor. —Corey Buhay, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 May 2024

Should academic institutions ignore their own policies against disruptive activity for the sake of speech, even if many Jewish students feel their very identity is under attack? —Jeremy W. Peters Jamie Kelter Davis, New York Times, 6 May 2024

Without significant changes, which do not have to be disruptive in either the operational or the innovation sense, telehealth’s rough run is only likely to continue. —Deepak Sirdeshmukh, STAT, 3 May 2024

Last week, Republicans began seizing the initiative through what appears to be a coordinated nationwide effort to condemn the sometimes disruptive pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests, and turn up the heat on universities to quash them. —Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 May 2024

These escalations have become dangerous and disruptive to public safety and to order. —Gil Mandelzis, Fortune, 4 May 2024

Elsewhere, the camps and other protests have been smaller and less disruptive. —Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2024

The battle was significantly disruptive to the industry but most of all to artists, thousands of whom suddenly found their music muted on the world’s most powerful platform for discovering and promoting music. —Jem Aswad, Variety, 2 May 2024

Whereas the current wave of protests, whatever their original motivations, have become not only disruptive but, for many Jewish students, frightening. —Stephen L. Carter, Twin Cities, 1 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1827, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

disruptive

adjective

dis·​rup·​tive dis-ˈrəp-tiv 

: characterized by psychologically disorganized behavior

a confused, incoherent, and disruptive patient in the manic phase