disturbs

verb

present tense third-person singular of disturb
1
as in bothers
to trouble the mind of; to make uneasy all that talk of war disturbed us

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2
as in removes
to change the place or position of the items on her desk had been disturbed by someone

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in disrupts
to undo the proper order or arrangement of her careful filing system is sure to be disturbed during the move

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4
as in annoys
to thrust oneself upon (another) without invitation sorry to disturb you while you're working

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5
as in weighs
to cause discomfort to or trouble for please do not disturb yourself—I'll get my own drink

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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 disturbs 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 That disturbs Masters, an auto mechanic who moved out of the mobile home park before the 2021 floods. — Ren Larson, ProPublica, 2 Sep. 2026 Traffic between somebody else's router and somebody else's laptop, say in a random coffee shop or an airport, can provide the radio field that your body disturbs to create your specific signature. — New Atlas, 26 Aug. 2026 The pier in Michigan City’s Washington Park disturbs the natural flow of sand along the lakeshore, creating new land east of the pier but starving beaches to the west, an erosion problem repeated by other manmade structures that jut out into Lake Michigan. — Doug Ross, Chicago Tribune, 15 June 2026 Regardless, there’s a clear symbolism to Clark empathizing and embracing a bloated externalization of his own inchoate fury until someone with an outside perspective disturbs his peace, and that fury breaks loose and devours him. — Tasha Robinson, Vulture, 29 May 2026 The idea that there can be any kind of misalignment between them, though, disturbs her. — Cressida Leyshon, New Yorker, 24 May 2026 The worms thrash and move erratically with a snake-like motion that disturbs the topsoil. — Maria Braganini, CBS News, 25 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disturbs
  1. bothers
  2. removes
  3. disrupts
  4. weighs
  5. distracts
  6. relocates
  7. confuses
  8. troubles
Verb
  • This is why the sameness creeping into corporate communications right now bothers me more than the question of whether AI can write a good press release.
    — Amanda Simonian, Forbes.com, 25 Sep. 2026
  • Kurt's key takeaways What bothers me most about DoppelCart is how convincing these fake stores can look.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of bothers
Verb
  • Instead of replacing merchandisers, AI removes bottlenecks and gives time and control back to brand teams.
    — Zohar Gilad, Forbes.com, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Cash does not mean skipping the closing process Another common misunderstanding is that selling for cash removes the normal legal steps involved in transferring real estate.
    — Ascend Agency, Chicago Tribune, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of removes
Verb
  • Supporters say changing the clocks disrupts sleep, increases workplace injuries and contributes to more road accidents.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 3 Oct. 2026
  • These numbers complicate the picture of a state workforce unhappy with a new policy that some workers say disrupts their daily lives and question if returning to the office could bring health risks, longer commutes, lost time and higher gas costs.
    — Corey Schmidt, Sacbee.com, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of disrupts
Verb
  • Take the quiz here … LISTEN Tune in as the Supreme Court weighs major battles over gun rights, religious liberty, climate policy, and election laws that could reshape the legal landscape.
    — , FOXNews.com, 6 Oct. 2026
  • But make no mistake, things are grim behind the scenes; this whole situation weighs heavily on both of them.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of weighs
Verb
  • Yes, a legal circus distracts from the things that matter and creates a massive amount of drama all its own.
    — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Often, undercapitalization is a major challenge for new franchisees and distracts from operations.
    — Angelo Chavez, Forbes.com, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of distracts
Verb
  • But Resurrection is a return to form, as our genial serial killer relocates to New York after his now-adult son starts his own murder spree.
    — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Verity follows renowned author Verity Crawford (Hathaway) and Lowen Ashleigh (Johnson), a struggling writer who relocates to the remote Crawford estate to ghostwrite for Verity.
    — Armando Tinoco, Deadline, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of relocates
Verb
  • 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
  • Retreat to the previous paragraph if the question confuses you.
    — John Tamny, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of confuses
Verb
  • But the equity market’s rise this year has been driven primarily by just a few sectors, which troubles some analysts.
    — Steve Kopack, NBC news, 28 Sep. 2026
  • The aspect of the painting that troubles me most, though, is the sleeve of Amélie’s dress.
    — Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of troubles

Browse Nearby Words

disturbingly
disturbs
disunion
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Cite this Entry

“Disturbs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disturbs. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.

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