disconcerting 1 of 2

Definition of disconcertingnext

disconcerting

2 of 2

verb

present participle of disconcert

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of disconcerting
Adjective
Cellos and basses may be rumbling along on a frighteningly low melody, as the woodwinds are pecking like a riot in a chicken coop, while the high strings are sustaining a cluster of odd, disconcerting notes. Toria Sheffield, PEOPLE, 29 Dec. 2025 The macro view is more disconcerting. Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Dec. 2025 The picture exudes both grace and vulnerability, and hints at imperfection by way of a disconcerting, coral-like wrinkle that mars the foot’s heel. Chris Wiley, New Yorker, 20 Dec. 2025 Easily the most disconcerting — nay, infuriating — moments in the trailer were when celebrities were introduced into the game. Joe Reid, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025 Another clip shows the robot scuttling across the floor, both impressive and disconcerting, prompting reactions ranging from awe to genuine unease. Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 5 Dec. 2025 Perhaps as disconcerting as anything is the lack of circumstances that would create such confusion. Alec Lewis, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2025 The disconcerting scene offers a glimpse of what actually happened to Will while he was trapped for most of Season 1 and suggests that Will may still be impacted by whatever Vecna put inside him at the beginning of the story. Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 7 Nov. 2025 Even his portrayal of a man with advanced dementia, in The Father (2020), which won the Academy Award for Best Actor, emitted a disconcerting power. Literary Hub, 6 Nov. 2025
Verb
As the Alabama Crimson Tide prepare for the rival Auburn Tigers ahead of Saturday’s Iron Bowl, the team received a bit of disconcerting news. Michael Gallagher, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2025 The code, though, is currently often replete with disconcerting troubles. Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025 This detail, at once tragic and comic, painfully human and stupidly bureaucratic, captures something essential about Schattenfroh, an extremely dark novel about the horrors of modern European history laced with the delirious, disconcerting humor of a Hieronymus Bosch painting. Book Marks september 11, Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2025 The young actor has a disconcerting awareness of the roiling potential of his changing body. Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2025 Even without Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota’s size remains disconcerting to the Nuggets, especially when Aaron Gordon is out. Bennett Durando, The Denver Post, 13 Mar. 2025 And disconcerting moments are in the show, such as the larger-than-life black widow spiders that dangle from the ceiling. Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel, 19 Feb. 2025 The fact all these acquisition titles are leaving snail tracks in their quests for distributors to bring them to theaters or streaming services is disconcerting, for sure. Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 2 Feb. 2025 That text message turned out to be the first in a series of disconcerting messages friends and family members would apparently receive from Michael Shaver over the course of the next two and a half years. Paige Harriss, ABC News, 10 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disconcerting
Adjective
  • But the Wolverines were also 21-6 and coming off an embarrassing home loss to Illinois in the final regular-season game.
    Seth Emerson, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2026
  • Alfonsi’s reporting did show up on Canada’s Global TV service, which had been given a feed of the program before the change was made, an embarrassing operational error by CBS News.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 6 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • Canales-Pelaez said that local departments may be confusing administrative warrants with criminal ones, or overcomplying to avoid backlash from the state Legislature.
    Emiliano Tahui Gómez, Austin American Statesman, 10 Jan. 2026
  • Among the factors hindering higher youth participation, CIRCLE research shows, include confusing registration deadlines and requirements, a lack of youth outreach and a dearth of regular curriculum that teaches young people about elections and voting in school.
    Tess Kenny, Chicago Tribune, 7 Jan. 2026
Adjective
  • Although the meeting went smoothly and led to concrete commitments, the bonhomie was strained by uncomfortable questions at a news conference about the issue hanging over the day’s diplomacy.
    Christian Edwards, CNN Money, 9 Jan. 2026
  • Rather than telegraphing trouble in paradise, the move could simply be a styling choice—or a response to high temperatures, which cause one’s hands to swell and can make wearing a ring uncomfortable.
    Bailey Bujnosek, InStyle, 9 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • Look past the saber rattling and campaign rhetoric.
    Brian Jones, Oc Register, 6 Jan. 2026
  • Roughly one week later, Johnson reportedly heard the metal cage rattling from inside his home but later realized that the wrong bear had been captured.
    Bonny Chu, FOXNews.com, 31 Dec. 2025
Adjective
  • The rise of digital payment systems has made tipping both easier and more awkward, especially when prompts appear at counters, kiosks and drive-thru windows.
    Peter Burke, FOXNews.com, 9 Nov. 2025
  • Use this a couple of times a week for smoother, brighter skin (without getting sunburnt and sand in awkward places).
    Christa Joanna Lee, Allure, 9 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • Videos showing the physical abuse of nonverbal children on a Littleton Public Schools bus are disturbing and difficult to watch.
    Karen Morfitt, CBS News, 6 Jan. 2026
  • Over the next six months, disturbing details about the abuse Kevin’s youngest children endured at the hands of their mother and Hildebrandt emerged.
    Lynsey Eidell, PEOPLE, 6 Jan. 2026
Adjective
  • Using a speaker outside the stall results in reverb and echoing as the music bounces around the bathroom walls, making the sound muddy and unpleasant.
    BestReviews, Chicago Tribune, 8 Jan. 2026
  • Given the lack of gravity, even a runny nose can turn into an extremely unpleasant experience, forcing astronauts to resort to unusual measures just to drain mucus from their nasal passages.
    Victor Tangermann, Futurism, 8 Jan. 2026
Adjective
  • Jens generally chooses his words carefully, and is, what’s more, particularly reticent just after finishing a long and difficult winter delivery trip; what’s a person supposed to do with words in a blizzard anyway, up on a stormy heath and all directions lost?
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 10 Nov. 2025
  • In his first start in the wake of Beau Pribula’s significant injury, Zollers walked into a difficult situation, and his stat line reflected it.
    Maddie Hartley, Kansas City Star, 9 Nov. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Disconcerting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disconcerting. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.

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