DISRUPTS Synonyms: 101 Similar and Opposite Words

disrupts

verb

present tense third-person singular of disrupt

as in breaks

to cause to separate into pieces usually suddenly or forcibly an earthquake that had disrupted the elevated highway in several places

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in disturbs

to undo the proper order or arrangement of the arrival of a baby in the household would totally disrupt their established routine

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 disrupts Courts have also recognized circumstances in which educational institutions may restrict student speech that materially and substantially disrupts their operations. — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 28 Oct. 2026 Introducing conscious thoughts actually disrupts this flow and slows down the process. — Jesse Granger, New York Times, 23 Oct. 2026 The rare condition damages the spinal cord’s protective myelin sheath and disrupts nerve signals between the brain and body. — Rod McGuirk, Los Angeles Times, 21 Oct. 2026 The truckers are adding their voices to demonstrations that have spread across Europe as the war disrupts economies. — ABC News, 20 Oct. 2026 Warren Lockette, professor of medicine and physiology and division chief for endocrinology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, told Campus Insights Media that an impact disrupts that signaling pathway. — Samantha Agate, Kansas City Star, 19 Oct. 2026 The program could also be targeted rather than universal — triggered by sector-specific unemployment spikes, income level, or geography, so the money flows first to the workers AI disrupts most. — Sarah Cannon, Fortune, 18 Oct. 2026 Buyer said Anthropic's move could be seen favorably if the funds support retraining or help workers find alternative employment when the technology disrupts their jobs. — Jennifer Liu, CNBC, 18 Oct. 2026 Haidt argues that social media disrupts kids’ social and neurological development, contributing to rising anxiety and depression through sleep loss, fragmented attention, addiction, loneliness, social comparison and perfectionism. — Ari Lightman, The Conversation, 16 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for disrupts

Verb

Boise proper is reliably blue, and the rest of the county typically breaks red.

— Mark Dee, Idaho Statesman, 4 Nov. 2026
Her victory ends Patrick's 12-year tenure in the position and breaks the Republican Party's decades-long control of one of the most powerful offices in Texas government.

— Digital Producer, CBS News, 4 Nov. 2026

Definition of breaks

Verb

Some of the sightings claim a man wearing clothing typical of the 17th or 18th centuries, a man dressed in Confederate attire in the liquor room, a ghost of a former worker Joseph Hardesty and a female who actively disturbs visitors to her home.

— Kaitlyn Keegan, Hartford Courant, 25 Sep. 2026
Vibration disturbs the natural sediments in wine, flattening the flavor and aging it prematurely.

— Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 25 Sep. 2026

Definition of disturbs

Verb

The legal system dehumanizes her, the support group confuses her, and one of her friends painfully disappoints her.

— Carey Purcell, Vogue, 2 Oct. 2026
This confuses each Nyota but also those around them, who note that the Nyotas have rather quickly assumed new hairstyles but also that neither is behaving quite like herself.

— Keith Phipps, Vulture, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of confuses

Verb

The medical examiner found injuries to Paul Herlihy’s nose and jaw, fractures to his skull, and damage to his voice box.

— Natasha Holt, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2026
As grief turns to accusation, Warmooge’s mother refuses burial without justice, and the village fractures under the weight of uncertainty and pressure to resolve the truth.

— Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 25 Sep. 2026

Definition of fractures

Verb

This reduces the computing work required to serve identical repository data repeatedly.

— Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 3 Nov. 2026
The iron in lentils can help maintain healthy energy levels by being a component of hemoglobin in red blood cells, which delivers oxygen throughout the body and reduces fatigue.

— Cristina Mutchler, Verywell Health, 2 Nov. 2026

Definition of reduces

Verb

With each impact, Sarah’s face disintegrates into a bloodier pulp, her bone structure buckling under every successive thud until Nikki has finally and irrevocably rendered the character a faceless corpse.

— Chris Lee, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2026
Even those who can afford to stay suffer losses in home equity and lifestyle as the community around them disintegrates or disappears.

— The Conversation, Fortune, 12 June 2026