upsetting

adjective

up·​set·​ting (ˌ)əp-ˈse-tiŋ 

: mentally or emotionally troubling or disturbing : causing feelings of worry or anxiety

heard some upsetting news

an upsetting experience

We're up to [a deficit of] $1.5 trillion a year …. These numbers are truly upsetting.

—Bill Gates

Professors issue, or students demand, trigger warnings when presenting material that might be upsetting to some: depictions of rape, sexism, racism, suicide.

—Yvonne Abraham

upsettingly adverb

an upsettingly graphic depiction of violence

In comparison to male historical figures, the number of women that we learn about throughout school is upsettingly low.

—Alexis Gardner

Synonyms

• disturbing
• unsettling
• troubling
• frightening

Examples of upsetting in a Sentence

the constant arguing is upsetting to a sensitive person like your grandmother

Recent Examples on the Web

And yet, despite being an Oscar-hopeful crowd-pleaser rather than a horror movie, The Green Mile features some of the most upsetting imagery and themes in any King adaptation. —James Grebey, Time, 12 Sep. 2025

This disastrously cramped conception of who gets to have a day in court would be the main target of my outrage if the court’s opinion on the use of ethnicity, language and workplace as factors in immigration enforcement weren’t even more upsetting. —Noah Feldman, Mercury News, 10 Sep. 2025

Despite suffering a very upsetting loss, the Bears looked better. —Evan Massey, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Sep. 2025

The news was, understandably, upsetting and customers took to Reddit to express their displeasure in the new policy. —Kait Hanson, Southern Living, 7 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1872, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for upsetting

• abetting
• begetting
• besetting
• bloodletting
• briquetting
• forgetting
• offsetting
• pipetting
• regretting
• resetting
• subletting
• typesetting