disorienting 1 of 2

disorienting

2 of 2

verb

present participle of disorient

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 disorienting
Adjective
To emerge from that edit cave into the spotlight of public reaction must be disorienting. Matthew Carey, Deadline, 7 Sep. 2026 At 4,000 lumens reaching up to 241 yards, a full blast of this light aimed at someone’s eyes is genuinely disorienting in the dark. Karen Leblanc, Travel + Leisure, 3 Sep. 2026 Portman actually released no statement, and many critics noted that Cusk’s novel is more of an intentionally disorienting examination of the artifices of self and celebrity than a tell-all roman à clef. René Ostberg, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Sep. 2026 And Treasury’s intervention in bond markets threatens to make that hall of mirrors even more disorienting. Matt Egan, CNN Money, 27 Aug. 2026 One of his lines of research seeks to distill our familiar world from the disorienting Hilbert space that encapsulates all the ways the universe could possibly be. Quanta Magazine, 26 Aug. 2026 The hours before kickoff can be just as disorienting as the game. Ira Gorawara, New York Times, 23 Aug. 2026 There’s something quite disorienting about Svalbard’s summer light. Sarah Kingdom, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2026 The friends say trying to find their way back was quickly disorienting. Charlie De Mar, CBS News, 18 Aug. 2026
Verb
For the band at the center of it all, the sudden increase in attention was disorienting at times. Simon Vozick-Levinson, Rolling Stone, 10 Sep. 2026 The director and his DP Cristiano Di Nicola create striking visuals, with a strong sense of composition and lots of woozy, disorienting angles. David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2026 That absence of information, like the partial sensory deprivation of entering down the dark stairway, can be disorienting. Michael Joseph Gross, Travel + Leisure, 3 Sep. 2026 All that before disorienting and incapacitating a potential school shooter in about a minute. Cindy Von Quednow, CNN Money, 24 Aug. 2026 Residents should also keep their blinds closed at night to prevent indoor lighting from disorienting turtles. Kelli Bender, PEOPLE, 17 Aug. 2026 By surrounding Brazilian funk’s fundamental elements with uncanny violin samples and disorienting synths, Agazero seems to offer a bleak vision of the way the country’s most popular genre has been distorted and misrepresented overseas. Amanda Cavalcanti, Pitchfork, 31 July 2026 And with peak travel season underway, millions of people may have to contend with this disorienting condition, which can cause sleep disturbances, daytime tiredness, headaches and nasty gastrointestinal symptoms. Laura Ungar, Chicago Tribune, 25 July 2026 Diametrically across her on the opposite wall and in a disorienting symbiotic echo is a drawing of legendary football player Pelé. Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 24 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disorienting
Adjective
  • Here, those extra voices vastly outnumber the two main characters, leading to a profusion of confusing subplots that stray away from the main themes.
    Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Vaccines increasingly feel like a high-stakes decision – but with increasingly confusing and contradictory public health information.
    Jennifer Reich, The Conversation, 17 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • The sequel, on the other hand, is shaped by baffling decisions from director Susanne Bier and cinematographer Simon Duggan that render the film antiseptic.
    Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Despite some protests about a dog contributing to the game, Buddy — clad in a bright blue jersey and two pairs of basketball kicks — scores baffling basket after baffling basket, leaving the other team shocked.
    Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 27 July 2026
Adjective
  • Director Darren Aronofsky’s chilly mind-bender is mesmerizing, terrifying and perplexing in equal measure.
    David Faris, TheWeek, 14 Sep. 2026
  • The messages, which NPR has obtained and authenticated, are perplexing.
    NPR, NPR, 10 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • The threats are constantly evolving, layering upon themselves with bewildering speed.
    Craig Hooper, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026
  • But these casting decisions are bewildering, to say the least, and will certainly cost the film ticket sales and potential revenue.
    Ian Miller OutKick, FOXNews.com, 6 July 2026
Adjective
  • Its study of dark matter and dark energy could also give scientists new insights into two of the most confounding puzzles in astronomy.
    Denise Chow, NBC news, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Grief is one of the most confounding aspects of the human experience.
    Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 17 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • The answer involves two puzzling sets of teeth, fake saliva — and some personal experimentation.
    Pien Huang, NPR, 19 Sep. 2026
  • In patients with post-herpetic neuralgia, while the shingles rash has cleared with seemingly normal-looking skin, skin biopsies show a puzzling reduction in sensory nerve fibers in the painful areas.
    Andrew Bubak, The Conversation, 14 Sep. 2026
Adjective
  • The mystifying hexagon, unlike anything else seen in the solar system, has persisted long enough for four spacecraft to observe it above the gas giant – including the iconic Hubble Space Telescope.
    Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2026
  • If you were born with Libra rising, your second house of money is passionate and Plutonian, ruled by the sultry and mystifying sign of Scorpio.
    Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 14 Aug. 2026
Adjective
  • The diabolical is ambiguous and often frankly sexy; the ridiculous is not.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Others require deep intelligence—analyzing complex financial information, generating code from ambiguous requirements or weighing competing factors.
    Nitin Gupta, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Disorienting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disorienting. Accessed 21 Sep. 2026.

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