as in disturbs
to trouble the mind of; to make uneasy
the news that the local grocery store had sold contaminated produce unsettled many shoppers
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Recent Examples of unsettles
Meanwhile, Geon-young’s detainment has upset the Prosecutors’ Office, which in turn unsettles Chief Na (Oh Dae-suk), who is Cheon’s main rival within the presidential cabinet.
—
Kayti Burt, Time, 14 Jan. 2026
Friday’s arrival, relatively late in the book, unsettles unexpected elements of Crusoe’s order, while altering and rebuilding others.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 31 Dec. 2025
As a series of perverse scam calls unsettles an idyllic retirement community, a starry-eyed nurse becomes entangled with her mysterious patient.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 10 Dec. 2025
As political tensions rise across Maracoor, Rain’s mysterious arrival unsettles local authorities and raises questions about myth, magic, and threat.
—Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Nov. 2025
The result is slower, more volatile law-making — the kind of regulatory instability that unsettles investors.
—Felicia Jackson, Forbes.com, 3 Oct. 2025
No humor benefits from being seen among other people so much as the kind that throws or unsettles you — a tension that is resolved, gloriously, when the audience collectively gives in and decides to roar with laughter.
—Robert Rubsam, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
Kirk assassination angers and unsettles leaders, residents The assassination of Kirk, which happened in front of hundreds of people and was captured on video and widely circulated on social media, has in particular rattled the nation and drawn condemnation from across the political spectrum.
—Mark Vancleave, Twin Cities, 13 Sep. 2025
Yet for all the focus now on the technology’s effects on jobs or geopolitics, what unsettles Altman most are the subtle, almost imperceptible cultural shifts that spread when millions of people interact with the same system every day.
—Preston Fore, Fortune, 11 Sep. 2025
Kayti Burt, Time, 14 Jan. 2026
Friday’s arrival, relatively late in the book, unsettles unexpected elements of Crusoe’s order, while altering and rebuilding others.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 31 Dec. 2025
As a series of perverse scam calls unsettles an idyllic retirement community, a starry-eyed nurse becomes entangled with her mysterious patient.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 10 Dec. 2025
As political tensions rise across Maracoor, Rain’s mysterious arrival unsettles local authorities and raises questions about myth, magic, and threat.
—Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Nov. 2025
The result is slower, more volatile law-making — the kind of regulatory instability that unsettles investors.
—Felicia Jackson, Forbes.com, 3 Oct. 2025
No humor benefits from being seen among other people so much as the kind that throws or unsettles you — a tension that is resolved, gloriously, when the audience collectively gives in and decides to roar with laughter.
—Robert Rubsam, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
Kirk assassination angers and unsettles leaders, residents The assassination of Kirk, which happened in front of hundreds of people and was captured on video and widely circulated on social media, has in particular rattled the nation and drawn condemnation from across the political spectrum.
—Mark Vancleave, Twin Cities, 13 Sep. 2025
Yet for all the focus now on the technology’s effects on jobs or geopolitics, what unsettles Altman most are the subtle, almost imperceptible cultural shifts that spread when millions of people interact with the same system every day.
—Preston Fore, Fortune, 11 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unsettles
Verb
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Another possibility is that there is a relic magnetic field that exists between galaxies which remains from the early universe and disturbs low-energy gamma-rays.—
Robert Lea,
Space.com,
5 Nov. 2025
-
The water is perfectly clear — until someone brushes the side of the cave or disturbs the soft bottom, sending fine silt particles billowing into the beam of a headlamp.—
Jennifer Walker,
CNN Money,
18 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Feeney’s book features multiple narrators, but relativity is not an idea the series bothers to develop.—
Television Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
8 Jan. 2026
-
Now, wages have grown, but inflation bothers people.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
28 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Scrolling social media, watching videos, recording videos or using the device in anyway that distracts you and requires your body to do it.—
Shelby Slade,
AZCentral.com,
6 Jan. 2026
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As technology distracts, polarizes and automates, people are still finding refuge on analog islands in the digital sea.—
Michael Liedtke,
Fortune,
28 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
Which is another thing that worries him.—
Joel Stein,
HollywoodReporter,
8 Jan. 2026
-
Stewart worries that the listings risk running afoul of copyright on product photos, or of agreements with her own suppliers — themselves mostly independent brands — that prohibit reselling products on Amazon.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
7 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Set in a perpetually sunny, idealized England vaguely between the wars, The Code of the Woosters concerns the misadventures of man-about-town Bertie Wooster (stupid, amiable, rich) and his impeccably helpful valet Jeeves.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 Jan. 2026
-
The availability of credit from alternative consumer lenders that don’t offer the statutory protections mandated for credit cards concerns consumer advocates.—
Business Columnist,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Jan. 2026
Verb
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But what alarms him most is the silence from the business community.—
Eva Roytburg,
Fortune,
20 Oct. 2025
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While Cherry is more versed at keeping her rage simmering just below the surface, Laura struggles to hide her anguish and disgust, which alarms those closest to her.—
Aramide Tinubu,
Variety,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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What angers me is thinking about what could have been.—
Caroline Blair,
PEOPLE,
12 Dec. 2025
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And nothing angers the Survivor gods more than reality TV hubris.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
2 Oct. 2025
Verb
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As the sun agitates the moon, both options appeal.—
USA TODAY,
USA Today,
5 Jan. 2026
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To admit what hurts, agitates, and offends us in fact illuminates what is complicated and good in us.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unsettles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unsettles. Accessed 17 Jan. 2026.
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