discombobulate love

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To throw into a state of confusion. synonym: befuddle.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • verb to cause to be confused; confuse emotionally.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive, humorous To throw into a state of confusion; to befuddle or perplex.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly
  • verb cause to be confused emotionally

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps alteration of discompose.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

A 19th-century US coinage, probably based on discompose, discomfit, etc.

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Examples

Comments

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  • A funny-sounding word, usually used lightheartedly, but which I use to describe a upsetting and frightening inability to think.

    December 20, 2007

  • but if you want to undiscombobulate, combobulating doesn't seem to be an option...

    March 21, 2008

  • Great word. I just discovered this site and I love it. Check out -

    http://www.walkinthewords.blogspot.com

    for more fun word stuff

    April 19, 2008

  • i seriously never thought this was a word til a friend of mine used it, and i laughed really hard

    January 2, 2011

  • A previous co worker liked to use this word in 2011. Looking this up in Google books, this goes back to 1871 http://goo.gl/riNOS 'Going on a mission' by Paul Cobden

    January 4, 2013

  • I find this kind of word almost unusable. In a serious context it's too ridiculous. Flip the coin and in a light-hearted context it smacks of trying-too-hard-ness.

    January 4, 2013

  • I can attest to its use in professional and semi-professional settings to refer to automotive, computer, and other equipment in which something is munged, borked, banjaxed or otherwise bollixed. In fact I'm adding it to my situation-normal list.

    January 4, 2013

  • I can't imagine using it professionally, but I use it quite a lot at home.

    I did use paramour today in an official report.

    January 4, 2013

  • while I you wait on your weight

    try not to discombobulate

    January 6, 2015