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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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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 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 Tilling or plowing in the summer disturbs the soil's delicate ecosystem and exposes moist soil to rapid water loss. — Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 24 June 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
  • 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
  • What bothers Fairchild is the assumption behind it — that the dancers are voiceless and helpless.
    — Maddie Connors, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of bothers
Verb
  • That distinction removes a major uncertainty surrounding the material.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 26 Sep. 2026
  • Pre-toning with a purple toner removes yellow shades, which prepares the hair to accept the silver dye.
    — Maggie Ryan, Flow Space, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of removes
Verb
  • According to the 2025 Global Sleep Survey by the medical device company, 39% of respondents said their partner disrupts their sleep at least once a week, and 36% pointed to a partner’s snoring or loud breathing.
    — Lauren Schuster, Sacbee.com, 24 Sep. 2026
  • Yanbu, a major Red Sea oil export hub, has become particularly important as the war with Iran disrupts shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
    — Efrat Lachter, FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of disrupts
Verb
  • Reporter Melissa Stark said the brace weighs less than a pound and is made of magnesium, instead of titanium.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 22 Sep. 2026
  • The find eclipses the previous record holder — a roughly 14-pound Terslev hoard — and weighs nearly three times as much.
    — Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of weighs
Verb
  • Often, undercapitalization is a major challenge for new franchisees and distracts from operations.
    — Angelo Chavez, Forbes.com, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Scientists now are spending an increasing amount of time worrying about keeping the lights on and people employed, which ultimately distracts from time spent doing research.
    — Abdullah Shihipar, STAT, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of distracts
Verb
  • Without that owner, consolidation just relocates the chaos into a single box.
    — Erik Huberman, Forbes.com, 25 Sep. 2026
  • The Connecticut Sun, which moved from Orlando to Connecticut to play at the Mohegan Sun Arena in 2003, are playing their final game Thursday night before the franchise relocates to Houston next season.
    — Lori Riley, Hartford Courant, 24 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
  • The aspect of the painting that troubles me most, though, is the sleeve of Amélie’s dress.
    — Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
  • This moment troubles me not only as a historian, but also as a longtime mentor for college-age student-athletes.
    — Emily Harrison, STAT, 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 29 Sep. 2026.

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