disheveled
adjective
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These days, the adjective disheveled is used to describe almost anything or anyone marked by disorder or disarray. Rumpled clothes, for example, often contribute to a disheveled appearance, as in Colson Whitehead’s novel Crook Manifesto, when the comedian Roscoe Pope walks onstage “disheveled, in wrinkled green corduroy pants.” Apartments, desks, bedsheets, you name it—all can be disheveled when not at their neatest and tidiest. Hair, however, is the most common noun to which disheveled is applied (along with hairdo terms like bun and beard), a fact that makes etymological sense. Disheveled comes from the Middle English adjective discheveled, meaning “bareheaded” or “with disordered hair.” That word is a partial translation of the Anglo-French word deschevelé, a combination of the prefix des- (“dis-“) and chevoil, meaning “hair.”
Examples of disheveled in a Sentence
Sarah Jane Tribble, NPR, 22 Dec. 2025
Not that there’s a direct cause and effect between botched screens and not knowing where you’re supposed to line up shortly after them, but the point is that far too often this season, the Packers have looked disheveled or inept on offense, given their talent on that side of the ball.
—Matt Schneidman, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025
Thompson is perfectly paired with Wilson, an actor who can go from disheveled wallflower to calculating plotter to deer-in-the-headlights comic fighter with a widening of the eye or twisting of the lips.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 29 Oct. 2025
Rudy, along with his boss, Bruiser, and her disheveled paralegal, Deck, uncover two connected conspiracies surrounding the mysterious death of their client’s son.
—Denise Petski, Deadline, 23 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for disheveled
Cite this Entry
“Disheveled.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disheveled. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.
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