unstrung

American  

[uhn-struhng] / ʌnˈstrʌŋ /

verb

1. simple past tense and past participle of unstring.

---

adjective

1. having the string or strings loosened or removed, as a bow or harp.

2. weakened or nervously unhinged, as a person or a person's nerves; unnerved; discomposed.

   The incident left him unstrung.

unstrung British  

/ ʌnˈstrʌŋ /

adjective

1. emotionally distressed; unnerved

2. (of a stringed instrument) with the strings detached

---

Etymology

Origin of unstrung

First recorded in 1590–1600, for the adjective

Example Sentences

He also wore a fur pelt around his neck and carried an unstrung wooden archery bow.

From Washington Times • Jul. 13, 2023

That is not to say it’s historically unstrung along the lines of “The Great” or “Bridgerton” or Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette”; generally speaking, it stays put within its period.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 30, 2021

We’ll leave our gloves, with their humble histories, just as they are, somewhat unstrung by time and use, like us.

From Washington Post • Jun. 30, 2021

It’s so surprising and moving and true that I became completely unstrung, incapable of reading it to my husband without breaking down.

From New York Times • Oct. 10, 2017

The passages were clogged with troops: armored knights in woolen surcoats and fur cloaks, men-at-arms with spears across their shoulders, archers carrying unstrung bows and sheaves of arrows, freeriders, grooms leading warhorses.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin