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
Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle, Forbes.com, 10 June 2026
Yamashita’s mixture of archival material and original fiction can be disorienting, and so can the book’s cacophony of voices.
—Literary Hub, 28 May 2026
Protect your claim right away The moments after an impact are disorienting.
—Ascend Agency, Baltimore Sun, 27 May 2026
Obviously, the users can also opt for surfing’s rapid digressions due to the overwhelming and disorienting number of choices that they are confronted with when accessing a hypertext.
—Carmen Daniela Maier, Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 May 2026
The ad captured attention but was a little disorienting for the actors, says Bowen.
—Brian Steinberg, Variety, 18 May 2026
Meaning that even with the curious and disorienting turn of the signage, Arrowhead still figures to be resplendent in the worldwide spotlight.
—Kansas City Star, 12 May 2026
For the passengers, the bus hitting the first curb was unexpected and disorienting.
—Jake Goodrick, Sacbee.com, 9 May 2026
For the casual fan, this nearly 100-minute tranche of odds and ends will likely be disorienting and inessential.
—David Harris, SPIN, 4 May 2026
James Mayer Jr, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026
Out with the Old, in with the Letterboxd Hollywood has always been obsessed with youth, but the current generational turnover happening inside entertainment has been especially disorienting for several reasons.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 31 May 2026
Too much red, meanwhile, risks disorienting penguins, whose eyes can’t perceive it (likely because red light does not deeply penetrate the ocean, which is their primary hunting environment).
—Oscar Holland, CNN Money, 25 May 2026
With Teutonic deadpan, Sander sends up the often ideologically weighted social photography of which his project is an example—and records the giddy, glitchy instability of the Weimar years, when the old order was in disorienting flux, and would soon disappear altogether.
—Max Norman, New Yorker, 21 May 2026
Americans of all political tendencies increasingly favor sweeping, disorienting political change.
—Abby McCloskey, Twin Cities, 7 May 2026
For someone who studied political science and theology, that shift has been disorienting.
—Nicole Russell, USA Today, 23 Apr. 2026
For someone who has spent a lot of time in traditional museums with windowless galleries, the experience was disorienting in the best way.
—John Wogan, Travel + Leisure, 22 Apr. 2026
The irony, of course, is that Handle are so locked into their own sense of logic that listening to the 27-minute album can be disorienting and frequently quite intense.
—Shaad D’souza, Pitchfork, 20 Apr. 2026
Adjective
Around me, tunnels, chambers and voids unfold like an imaginary city, at once familiar and disorienting.
—Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle, Forbes.com, 10 June 2026
Yamashita’s mixture of archival material and original fiction can be disorienting, and so can the book’s cacophony of voices.
—Literary Hub, 28 May 2026
Protect your claim right away The moments after an impact are disorienting.
—Ascend Agency, Baltimore Sun, 27 May 2026
Obviously, the users can also opt for surfing’s rapid digressions due to the overwhelming and disorienting number of choices that they are confronted with when accessing a hypertext.
—Carmen Daniela Maier, Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 May 2026
The ad captured attention but was a little disorienting for the actors, says Bowen.
—Brian Steinberg, Variety, 18 May 2026
Meaning that even with the curious and disorienting turn of the signage, Arrowhead still figures to be resplendent in the worldwide spotlight.
—Kansas City Star, 12 May 2026
For the passengers, the bus hitting the first curb was unexpected and disorienting.
—Jake Goodrick, Sacbee.com, 9 May 2026
For the casual fan, this nearly 100-minute tranche of odds and ends will likely be disorienting and inessential.
—David Harris, SPIN, 4 May 2026
Verb
No One Talks About Retirement often begins with a subtle but disorienting shift.
—James Mayer Jr, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026
Out with the Old, in with the Letterboxd Hollywood has always been obsessed with youth, but the current generational turnover happening inside entertainment has been especially disorienting for several reasons.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 31 May 2026
Too much red, meanwhile, risks disorienting penguins, whose eyes can’t perceive it (likely because red light does not deeply penetrate the ocean, which is their primary hunting environment).
—Oscar Holland, CNN Money, 25 May 2026
With Teutonic deadpan, Sander sends up the often ideologically weighted social photography of which his project is an example—and records the giddy, glitchy instability of the Weimar years, when the old order was in disorienting flux, and would soon disappear altogether.
—Max Norman, New Yorker, 21 May 2026
Americans of all political tendencies increasingly favor sweeping, disorienting political change.
—Abby McCloskey, Twin Cities, 7 May 2026
For someone who studied political science and theology, that shift has been disorienting.
—Nicole Russell, USA Today, 23 Apr. 2026
For someone who has spent a lot of time in traditional museums with windowless galleries, the experience was disorienting in the best way.
—John Wogan, Travel + Leisure, 22 Apr. 2026
The irony, of course, is that Handle are so locked into their own sense of logic that listening to the 27-minute album can be disorienting and frequently quite intense.
—Shaad D’souza, Pitchfork, 20 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disorienting
Adjective
-
As with other animal welfare labels, there is a large and sometimes confusing range of labels describing eggs produced in kinder ways.—
Christine Ro,
Forbes.com,
12 June 2026
-
Others behave like misleading traffic signs, sending confusing instructions.—
Charles J. Dimitroff,
The Conversation,
12 June 2026
Verb
-
For more than four minutes Darnold drove downfield, connecting on three of four passes, baffling the pass rushers, bleeding the clock, and by the time the Seahawks finally gave the ball back, the Rams had only 25 seconds to live.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
-
Though some of the recent playoff defeats have been baffling and call for self-evaluation within the organization, the culture has been a huge net positive overall.—
Jay King,
New York Times,
1 June 2026
Adjective
-
The famed Altar Stone is far more perplexing, however.—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
4 June 2026
-
On June 3, Mercury in Cancer will square off with Neptune in Aries, creating a perplexing atmosphere where emotions, assumptions and mixed signals can easily distort the truth.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
3 June 2026
Verb
-
Similarly, the defensively bewildering 9-6 loss the Wild suffered to start Round 2 in Colorado set the tone for five games that would ultimately be their undoing.—
Jess Myers,
Twin Cities,
3 June 2026
-
But even more than engaging the big ideas that Emma’s revelation triggers — pun somewhat intended — Lee and Borli wanted to craft an experience that would mimic its main characters’ bewildering interiority.—
Sarah Shachat,
IndieWire,
6 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Grief is one of the most confounding aspects of the human experience.—
Aramide Tinubu,
Variety,
17 Apr. 2026
-
In 2021, one year into D’Amaro’s tenure and following COVID shutdowns, Disney did away with FastPass and introduced a confounding and very costly series of pay-to-skip passes, which require timing advanced booking of limited slots in these formerly free-to-enter shorter lines.—
Rebecca Alter,
Vulture,
5 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
The 24 hours between Sunday and Monday made an already puzzling situation even more head spinning.—
Daniel DePetris,
Chicago Tribune,
9 June 2026
-
Police are investigating after puzzling footage posted online shows a group of men emerging from a manhole in Brooklyn early Friday morning.—
Thomas Tracy,
New York Daily News,
29 May 2026
Adjective
-
The Mets’ continual snub of Hall of Famer Carter, a pivotal player in the team’s history as the first building block of the 1986 championship club, is both mystifying and downright embarrassing.—
Bill Madden,
New York Daily News,
14 Mar. 2026
-
The outlandish and mystifying story received nearly wall-to-wall coverage, but the plane was never found.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
19 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Nonetheless, the series evolves into an elaborate soap opera over its 39 episodes, with complex scheming characters opposing Utena, her relationship with Anthy serving as the lodestar that guides this tragedy towards its ambiguous conclusion.—
Wilson Chapman,
IndieWire,
12 June 2026
-
Ruling upends August elections At the center of the controversy is an ambiguous ruling from the Missouri Supreme Court last month that left local election officials scrambling.—
Kacen Bayless,
Kansas City Star,
12 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Disorienting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disorienting. Accessed 14 Jun. 2026.
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