as in bewildering
to throw into a state of mental uncertainty
troops disoriented by the sudden change in battle plans
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in confusing
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of disorienting
Jesse Hassenger, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
From within the dynamic, recognizing this can be very disorienting.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 30 Aug. 2025
This was not a hoax, exactly; Baron makes a convincing case that Lowell believed passionately in his grandiose claims, and that many members of the public wanted to believe in them, at a time of disorienting change.
—Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2025
Ultimately, this film’s absurd existentialist deadpan aligns Lanthimos’ work here closer to Ruben Östlund than ever — himself a filmmaker likely drawing from Lanthimos these days — to mine the comedy of repetitious futility to disorienting effect.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 28 Aug. 2025
The blending of genres can be disorienting.
—G Kirilloff, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2025
The rapid shifts of tone in his conversations with Nicholas can be disorienting, veering from sharp political criticism to sentimental memories of visiting the Winter Palace.
—Emily McClanathan, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 2025
That rancor combined with Nazi flags will never not be disorienting to anyone who knows what the Thousand-Year Reich that lasted for twelve years inflicted on the world.
—Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 16 Aug. 2025
This causes a sudden, disorienting shift in the drone’s flight path, making it that much harder for the anti-drone missile to do its job.
—Chris Young, Interesting Engineering, 4 Aug. 2025
Interviews with investigators and other parties invested in these cases use shifting, disorienting focus to disguise people’s physical details.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 18 Mar. 2025
Verb
One of the most disorienting moves The Paper makes right off the bat is to provide two different Michael Scott figures — neither of whom serve as the lead character the way Steve Carell’s Michael did.
—Jesse Hassenger, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
From within the dynamic, recognizing this can be very disorienting.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
Adjective
Cinematographer James Friend creates a purgatorial realm of disorienting angles and neon lights too sickly to be beautiful, the nightmarishness further underlined by Volker Bertelman’s thundering score.
—Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 30 Aug. 2025
This was not a hoax, exactly; Baron makes a convincing case that Lowell believed passionately in his grandiose claims, and that many members of the public wanted to believe in them, at a time of disorienting change.
—Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2025
Ultimately, this film’s absurd existentialist deadpan aligns Lanthimos’ work here closer to Ruben Östlund than ever — himself a filmmaker likely drawing from Lanthimos these days — to mine the comedy of repetitious futility to disorienting effect.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 28 Aug. 2025
The blending of genres can be disorienting.
—G Kirilloff, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2025
The rapid shifts of tone in his conversations with Nicholas can be disorienting, veering from sharp political criticism to sentimental memories of visiting the Winter Palace.
—Emily McClanathan, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 2025
That rancor combined with Nazi flags will never not be disorienting to anyone who knows what the Thousand-Year Reich that lasted for twelve years inflicted on the world.
—Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 16 Aug. 2025
This causes a sudden, disorienting shift in the drone’s flight path, making it that much harder for the anti-drone missile to do its job.
—Chris Young, Interesting Engineering, 4 Aug. 2025
Interviews with investigators and other parties invested in these cases use shifting, disorienting focus to disguise people’s physical details.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 18 Mar. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disorienting
Verb
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And aren’t our real-life romantic complications bewildering enough?—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
4 Sep. 2025
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Its ginormous investments in higher-value, tech-heavy sectors from smartphones to autos to semiconductors to biotechnology are disrupting the global landscape at bewildering speed.—
William Pesek,
Forbes.com,
27 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Choosing a new kitchen counter can be confusing.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
4 Sep. 2025
-
But for as long as social media is a part of the childhood experience, parents and children will be forced to navigate this confusing world of misinformation and unrealistic messaging.—
Ashleigh N. DeLuca,
Parents,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
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That the Red Wings needed to attach a second-round pick to offload his money last summer was baffling at the time and looks even worse now.—
Dom Luszczyszyn,
New York Times,
20 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Chronic pain — that is more perplexing, with its biological purpose, if there even is one, proving elusive.—
Dr. Sanjay Gupta,
CNN Money,
2 Sep. 2025
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The Longs lived by a perplexing tangle of unspoken rules anchored by the admonishment to never invite the neighbors over.—
Kristen Kidd,
Denver Post,
30 Aug. 2025
Verb
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After getting entangled in a puzzling murder, the two go on the run to solve the case while also trying to piece their relationship back together.—
James Mercadante,
PEOPLE,
4 Sep. 2025
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Colorado opened its 2025 season with a puzzling 27-20 loss to Georgia Tech on Friday night.—
Shane Shoemaker,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Tuesday will go down as one of Boston’s most confounding losses of the season, a 4-3 defeat in 11 innings to the Baltimore Orioles in which the club went 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position.—
Mac Cerullo,
Boston Herald,
22 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
The first three episodes currently streaming on Paramount+ reveal that the Tiva dynamic remains as ambiguous as ever.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
4 Sep. 2025
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The term has become both expansive and ambiguous.—
Lauren Buitta,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The future is unknowable, but it is guaranteed to bring more hurricanes and other large-scale challenges that must be met collectively.—
Chloe Demrovsky,
Forbes.com,
22 Aug. 2025
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The consequences of the AI boom are likely irreversible, and the future is certainly unknowable.—
Matteo Wong,
The Atlantic,
21 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Disorienting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disorienting. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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