discomfiting

English

WOTD – 15 July 2020

Alternative forms

• discomfitting

Etymology

From discomfit +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈkʌmfɪtɪŋ/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈkʌmfətɪŋ/, [-ɾɪŋ]

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dis‧com‧fit‧ing

Adjective

discomfiting (comparative more discomfiting, superlative most discomfiting)

1. Tending to discomfit (“embarrass greatly; upset the composure of, disconcert”).

   Synonyms: discomforting, disconcerting, troubling, unsettling, upsetting

   • 1765, [Laurence Sterne], chapter II, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume VII, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, […], →OCLC, page 9:

     O I am deadly ſick!—reach me that thing, boy—'tis the moſt diſcomfiting ſickness— [...]

   • 1793, “a Personal Observer” [pseudonym], Truth Opposed to Fiction. Or, An Authentic and Impartial Review of the Life of the Late Right Honourable the Earl of Barrymore. […], London: […] C. and G. Kearsley, […], →OCLC, page 33:

     Under ſuch diſcomfiting circumſtance as general neglect, and that too palpable to be miſunderſtood, the whole of this picture was buried in oblivion; [...]

   • 1859 December 13, [Charles Dickens], “[The Haunted House] The Mortals in the House”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round. A Weekly Journal. [...] With which is Incorporated Household Words, volume I, Christmas number, London: No. 26, Wellington Street [printed by C. Whiting, […]], →OCLC, page 5, column 1:

     Streaker, the housemaid, too, had an attribute of a most discomfiting nature. I am unable to say whether she was of an unusually lymphatic temperament, or what else was the matter with her, but this young woman became a mere Distillery for the production of the largest and most transparent tears I ever met with.

   • 1915 October, Edwin Pugh, “Four Novels”, in The Bookman, volume XLIX, number 289, London: Hodder and Stoughton […], →OCLC, page 25, column 1:

     From the first page of this book [Dark Rosaleen (1915) by M. E. Francis] to the last this shadow of things beyond human ken, this blind acceptance of powers that it would almost be an impiety in mere mortals even to try to understand, colours and distorts the minds of all the chief protagonists in this rather terrible and discomfiting story.

   • 1992, Alejandro Morales, chapter 14, in The Rag Doll Plagues, Houston, Tex.: Arte Público Press, →ISBN, page 64:

     Suddenly, to my eyes, my throat, my mouth there rushed tears and a cry which I stifled into a feigned cough into my handkerchief. The waiter noticed my discomfiting state and poured more tea.

   • 2007, Sam Portaro, “Martin Luther King, Jr.: Civil Rights Leader, 1968”, in Brightest and Best: A Companion to the Lesser Feasts and Fasts (A Cowley Publications Book), revised edition, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, page 73:

     Imagination, like memory, can be selective, editing out those details which are painful or discomfiting.

   • 2018 December 12, Charles Bramesco, “A Spoonful of Nostalgia Helps the Calculated Mary Poppins Returns Go Down”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 24 May 2019:

     Like the technically astounding and spiritually hollow production numbers, however, [Emily] Blunt can’t situate the sentimental energy in a deeper foundation. Her excellence gets left in a sort of vacuum when paired with the fully extraneous train wreck of a visit with Meryl Streep as kooky Poppins cousin Topsy or some discomfiting soft shoe from a creaky Dick Van Dyke.

   • 2019 January 8, Kate Carraway, “How to Make a Millennial Feel Cozy in Just One Beverage”, in The New York Times‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 June 2020:

     One post features a productless shot, a 1970s-Hockney-gone-surrealist composition involving a half-dog, half-cat collaged onto shadowy pinks and babied blues, as discomfiting and mesmerizing as anything else on Weird Instagram right now.

Derived terms

• discomfitingly

Related terms

• discomfit
• discomfiture

Translations

tending to discomfit

• German: beunruhigend (de)
• Portuguese: desconcertante (pt)
• Spanish: desconcertante (es)

Verb

discomfiting

1. present participle and gerund of discomfit