DISCOMPOSE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does discompose mean? 

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

1. cause to lose one's composure

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISCOMPOSE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they discompose    ... he / she / it discomposes   
Past simple: discomposed   
Past participle: discomposed   
-ing form: discomposing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to lose one's composure

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

discomfit; discompose; disconcert; untune; upset

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

arouse; elicit; enkindle; evoke; fire; kindle; provoke; raise (call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses))

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

enervate; faze; unnerve; unsettle (disturb the composure of)

dissolve (cause to lose control emotionally)

inhibit (make (someone) self-conscious and as a result unable to act naturally)

bemuse; bewilder; discombobulate; throw (cause to be confused emotionally)

abash; embarrass (cause to be embarrassed; cause to feel self-conscious)

anguish; hurt; pain (cause emotional anguish or make miserable)

afflict (cause great unhappiness for; distress)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to discompose Sue

Derivation:

discomposure (a temperament that is perturbed and lacking in composure)

discomposure (anxious embarrassment)

 Context examples 

Whenever she was particularly discomposed, she always performed one of these pedestrian feats; and the amount of her discomposure might always be estimated by the duration of her walk.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But Mrs. Elton was very much discomposed indeed.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

He certainly is greatly, very greatly discomposed; I have seldom seen him more so.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Miss Steele was the least discomposed of the three, by their presence; and it was in their power to reconcile her to it entirely.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

And having been long used to sea-voyages, those motions, although sometimes very violent, did not much discompose me.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Such doings discomposed Mr. Bennet exceedingly.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

You will repay me entirely if you do not discompose yourself, but get well as fast as you can; and since you appear in such good spirits, I may speak to you on one subject, may I not?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

But Sunday made her a very creditable and tolerably cheerful-looking Mrs. Price, coming abroad with a fine family of children, feeling a little respite of her weekly cares, and only discomposed if she saw her boys run into danger, or Rebecca pass by with a flower in her hat.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

So very emphatically and unexpectedly, that we were all three discomposed; until Tiffey came in with the bill.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I should not like a man who is so soon discomposed by a hot morning.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)