as in confusing
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as in baffling
to throw into a state of mental uncertainty
troops disoriented by the sudden change in battle plans
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Recent Examples of disorienting
Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 23 Jan. 2026
Periods of major transition, between geopolitical orders, energy systems, or technology platforms, have always felt disorienting in real time.
—Chris Bradley, Fortune, 21 Jan. 2026
Smell’s deep links to memory and emotion make its absence especially disorienting, and once damaged, the system is notoriously difficult to restore.
—New Atlas, 12 Jan. 2026
Some uplift feels out of place when each day brings more disorienting tumult to our nation.
—Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 10 Jan. 2026
Her oeuvre is all over the place in a literal sense too, set in a disorienting array of locations—upstate New York, Baja California, New Mexico, Minnesota.
—Rosa Lyster, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
The Ankler’s Min and FeedMe’s founder Sundberg join Mixed Signals for a candid roundtable lookback at a disorienting year in media.
—Ben Smith, semafor.com, 26 Dec. 2025
So while the jagged shifts in volume were abandoned, Baby still pursues a disorienting effect on the listener.
—Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 8 Dec. 2025
Between the ever-changing menu and crowded, bustling dining room, dinner at Bluebeard can feel a little disorienting.
—Bradley Hohulin, IndyStar, 5 Dec. 2025
Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Dec. 2025
According to Adams, Koehler forced the woman from her upstairs bedroom down to downstairs, purposely disorienting her — the basis for the kidnapping charge he was also found guilty of.
—Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 3 Nov. 2025
Where is the mild varietal that recalls an afternoon garden, the smoke that relaxes without disorienting?
—Jahan Marcu, Rolling Stone, 23 Oct. 2025
The gorgeous black-and-white cinematography, rustic environments, and disorienting camera tricks deliver elegance and unease in equal measure.
—Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 18 Oct. 2025
But even for elite university students, Lot 49’s disorienting prose concerning the Tristero conspiracy, and the 1960s paranoia of San Narciso, takes time to unpack.
—Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2025
Her account reflects the disorienting new normal for a generation raised under the shadow of war.
—Sonal Nain, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Oct. 2025
The time spent in that courtroom in Avignon was disturbing and disorienting for Babonneau and Camus.
—Jeanne Malle, Air Mail, 4 Oct. 2025
When the officer shined a flashlight to get a closer look, Winkler aimed a laser at Santiago’s face, briefly disorienting him.
—Sophia Compton, FOXNews.com, 22 Sep. 2025
Adjective
And the ending, where Rose and her husband find themselves in the same room but separated in completely different dimensions, is a haunting and disorienting moment, one that finds a genuinely new angle on the series’ foundations.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 23 Jan. 2026
Periods of major transition, between geopolitical orders, energy systems, or technology platforms, have always felt disorienting in real time.
—Chris Bradley, Fortune, 21 Jan. 2026
Smell’s deep links to memory and emotion make its absence especially disorienting, and once damaged, the system is notoriously difficult to restore.
—New Atlas, 12 Jan. 2026
Some uplift feels out of place when each day brings more disorienting tumult to our nation.
—Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 10 Jan. 2026
Her oeuvre is all over the place in a literal sense too, set in a disorienting array of locations—upstate New York, Baja California, New Mexico, Minnesota.
—Rosa Lyster, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
The Ankler’s Min and FeedMe’s founder Sundberg join Mixed Signals for a candid roundtable lookback at a disorienting year in media.
—Ben Smith, semafor.com, 26 Dec. 2025
So while the jagged shifts in volume were abandoned, Baby still pursues a disorienting effect on the listener.
—Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 8 Dec. 2025
Between the ever-changing menu and crowded, bustling dining room, dinner at Bluebeard can feel a little disorienting.
—Bradley Hohulin, IndyStar, 5 Dec. 2025
Verb
Getting his bearings has been disorienting.
—Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Dec. 2025
According to Adams, Koehler forced the woman from her upstairs bedroom down to downstairs, purposely disorienting her — the basis for the kidnapping charge he was also found guilty of.
—Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 3 Nov. 2025
Where is the mild varietal that recalls an afternoon garden, the smoke that relaxes without disorienting?
—Jahan Marcu, Rolling Stone, 23 Oct. 2025
The gorgeous black-and-white cinematography, rustic environments, and disorienting camera tricks deliver elegance and unease in equal measure.
—Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 18 Oct. 2025
But even for elite university students, Lot 49’s disorienting prose concerning the Tristero conspiracy, and the 1960s paranoia of San Narciso, takes time to unpack.
—Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2025
Her account reflects the disorienting new normal for a generation raised under the shadow of war.
—Sonal Nain, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Oct. 2025
The time spent in that courtroom in Avignon was disturbing and disorienting for Babonneau and Camus.
—Jeanne Malle, Air Mail, 4 Oct. 2025
When the officer shined a flashlight to get a closer look, Winkler aimed a laser at Santiago’s face, briefly disorienting him.
—Sophia Compton, FOXNews.com, 22 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disorienting
Adjective
-
The notion of grief gradually fades into the backdrop, finally re-emerging in a manner that is, thanks to the film’s lumpy tonal mixture, more confusing than emotionally cleansing.—
Siddhant Adlakha,
Variety,
23 Jan. 2026
-
Plus, between all different sorts of shovels, snowblowers and snow pushers, figuring out exactly how to clear the snow can be confusing.—
Catherine Messier,
The Providence Journal,
23 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
The pilot of a private jet reportedly made an eerie discovery while flying thousands of feet over Rhode Island, marking the latest in unexplained encounters baffling both experts and civilians alike.—
Julia Bonavita,
FOXNews.com,
22 Dec. 2025
-
From financial wipeouts to baffling misreads of beloved source material, some of Hollywood’s most notorious flops began as video games.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
19 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
The movie is hilarious, fun, disturbing, perplexing, exuberant, exhausting.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
12 Dec. 2025
-
The canon can already be described as a bewildering artistic menagerie, including a perplexing assessment of misandrism, body horror by Brian Yuzna, killer toys from the ’90s, and more.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
11 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
And aren’t our real-life romantic complications bewildering enough?—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
4 Sep. 2025
-
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
-
The Eagles were a confounding defending champion throughout the regular season.—
Jeff Howe,
New York Times,
5 Jan. 2026
-
What is the most confounding and terrible, however, is Gretchen’s assertion that Slade, the anti-Viagra, doesn’t get involved with the women on his own accord, but only engages because the women always talk about him.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
10 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
But in recent years, Betelgeuse has thrown astronomers a few puzzling curveballs that have required serious detective work to solve.—
Ashley Strickland,
CNN Money,
20 Jan. 2026
-
Regulators will compound their puzzling refusal to acknowledge that firms increasingly rely on an array of intangible assets such as data, as opposed to brick and mortar, to generate shareholder value.—
Shivaram Rajgopal,
Forbes.com,
18 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
That has made his sophomore slump all the more mystifying, as Kasper has just six points (three goals, three assists) through 43 games this season.—
Max Bultman,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
-
Over the course of the 80-minute show, Gonzo shoots out of a cannon, Fozzie performs stand-up, and Kermit assists Lake with a mystifying card trick.—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
14 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
When institutions offer ambiguous framing, populists provide clarity.—
Güney Yıldız,
Forbes.com,
24 Jan. 2026
-
This ambiguous legacy as both enslaver and emancipator has troubled Americans ever since.—
John Garrison Marks,
Time,
23 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Disorienting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disorienting. Accessed 29 Jan. 2026.
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