discomfit
Americanverb (used with object)
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to confuse and deject; disconcert.
to be discomfited by a question.
- Synonyms:
- disturb , embarrass , discompose
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to frustrate the plans of; thwart; foil.
-
Archaic. to defeat utterly; rout.
The army was discomfited in every battle.
noun
verb
-
to make uneasy, confused, or embarrassed
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to frustrate the plans or purpose of
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archaic to defeat in battle
Other Word Forms
- discomfiter noun
- discomfiture noun
- undiscomfited adjective
Etymology
Origin of discomfit
1175–1225; Middle English < Anglo-French descunfit, Old French desconfit, past participle of desconfire, equivalent to des- dis- 1 + confire to make, accomplish < Latin conficere; confect
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The weed that is now a discomfiting menace was once a rarity.
And the revisions pertaining to Jocasta’s marriage to Laius, who was killed in a car accident decades before, bring a discomfiting and topical contemporary edge.
His calm and deadpan delivery of Teddy’s crazy talk gives it a discomfiting authority.
The author says Prescott was in a "class of his own when it came to discomfiting Charles".
From BBC
I came away from “Notes to John” feeling discomfited and saddened — though literary scholars may read it as providing context with which to deconstruct a great writer’s oeuvre.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
