DISARRAY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does disarray mean? 

• DISARRAY (noun)
  The noun DISARRAY has 2 senses:

1. a mental state characterized by a lack of clear and orderly thought and behavior

2. untidiness (especially of clothing and appearance)

  Familiarity information: DISARRAY used as a noun is rare.

• DISARRAY (verb)
  The verb DISARRAY has 1 sense:

1. bring disorder to

  Familiarity information: DISARRAY used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISARRAY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A mental state characterized by a lack of clear and orderly thought and behavior

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

confusedness; confusion; disarray; mental confusion; muddiness

Context example:

a confusion of impressions

Hypernyms ("disarray" is a kind of...):

cognitive state; state of mind (the state of a person's cognitive processes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "disarray"):

disorientation (confusion (usually transient) about where you are and how to proceed; uncertainty as to direction)

distraction (mental turmoil)

daze; fog; haze (confusion characterized by lack of clarity)

half-cock (confusion resulting from lack of preparation)

jamais vu (the experience of being unfamiliar with a person or situation that is actually very familiar; associated with certain types of epilepsy)

bafflement; befuddlement; bemusement; bewilderment; mystification; obfuscation; puzzlement (confusion resulting from failure to understand)

perplexity (trouble or confusion resulting from complexity)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Untidiness (especially of clothing and appearance)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

disarray; disorderliness

Hypernyms ("disarray" is a kind of...):

messiness; untidiness (the trait of being untidy and messy)

Derivation:

disarray (bring disorder to)

• DISARRAY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they disarray    ... he / she / it disarrays   
Past simple: disarrayed   
Past participle: disarrayed   
-ing form: disarraying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Bring disorder to

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

disarray; disorder

Hypernyms (to "disarray" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "disarray"):

mess; mess up (make a mess of or create disorder in)

derange; perturb; throw out of kilter (throw into great confusion or disorder)

disarrange (disturb the arrangement of)

jumble; scramble; throw together (bring into random order)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

disarray (untidiness (especially of clothing and appearance))

 Context examples 

For a few seconds she lay in her helpless attitude and disarray.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

"Disordered" materials are so-called because they are made up of objects that are in total disarray.

(Materials, like metallic glass, can help us understand how cells break, NSF)

As the warming ocean loses oxygen, the delicate balance of marine life is thrown into disarray.

(Oceans running out of oxygen at unprecedented rate, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

And then he bade them get the fire lit, and stalked out upon his crutch, with his hand on my shoulder, leaving them in a disarray, and silenced by his volubility rather than convinced.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a primary myocardial disorder with an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance that is characterized by hypertrophy of the left ventricles with histological features of myocyte hypertrophy, myofibrillar disarray, and interstitial fibrosis.

(Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)

But for some disarray (the work, perhaps, of the birds that had fed upon him or of the slow-growing creeper that had gradually enveloped his remains) the man lay perfectly straight—his feet pointing in one direction, his hands, raised above his head like a diver's, pointing directly in the opposite.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)