Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To make uneasy or perplexed; disconcert. See Synonyms at embarrass.
- v. To thwart the plans of; frustrate.
- v. Archaic To defeat in battle; vanquish.
- n. Discomfiture.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To foil or thwart in battle; overcome completely in fighting; defeat; rout.
- To disconcert; foil; frustrate the plans of; throw into perplexity and dejection.
- Synonyms Overpower, Rout, etc. See defeat.
- n. Rout; defeat; discomfiture.
Wiktionary
- v. archaic To defeat completely; to rout.
- v. To defeat the plans or hopes of; to frustrate.
- v. proscribed To embarrass greatly; to confuse; to perplex; to disconcert.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To scatter in fight; to put to rout; to defeat.
- v. To break up and frustrate the plans of; to balk� to throw into perplexity and dejection; to disconcert.
- adj. obsolete Discomfited; overthrown.
- n. Rout; overthrow; discomfiture.
WordNet 3.0
- v. cause to lose one's composure
Etymologies
- From Old French desconfit, past participle of desconfire ("to undo, to destroy"), from des- ("completely"), from Latin dis- + confire ("to make"), from Latin conficio ("to finish up, to destroy"), from com- ("with, together") + facio ("to do, to make"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English discomfiten, from Old French desconfit, past participle of desconfire, descumfire, to defeat : des-, dis- + confire, to make (from Latin cōnficere, to prepare; see comfit). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“*By the way, I hereby forsake the verb "discomfit".”
“How did we become such delicate creatures that we cannot dare to read a word that might discomfit us?”
“After 1900 he increasingly withdrew from active participation in politics, with his most prominent involvement being occasional embarrassing public statements to discomfit his own ministers.”
Matthew Yglesias » The Real German Resistance to Hitler: The Social Democrats
“Although ultimately he angrily left the press conference amid journalists' heckles, nothing appears set to discomfit Blatter.”
The Guardian: Fifa president Sepp Blatter to football world: 'Crisis? What is a crisis?'
“Frank Lampard - 7His penalty was dispatched with gusto, and he would have enjoyed the space that opened up after the interval as Chelsea pushed higher to discomfit the league leaders, even if sights of goal from open play were rare.”
“Not only because it reinforces that the safety of our group space does not mean safety from discomfort, but also because it reinforces that the safety of our group is also intended for me, and others, to speak our truths, even when those truths may discomfit others.”
“In Fugitive Days, he fixes on her in ways that had to discomfit the Weatherwoman he eventually settled for.”
“Erf wanted to discomfit a sniper up in the rafters by tossing a table at him, or shaking the rafter, or whatnot but by the rules had to settle for attacking the rafter to cut it through.”
Second “Empire of Ashes” Session Summary Posted « Geek Related
“And if I draw others into my circle of anxiety, does it serve to comfort all of us – by underlining how common the experience – or does it serve to discomfit all of us – by making the experience common, by forcing others to live it, vicariously?”
“He says that the land will lie barren for parts of the year and that fields in full bloom can look unkempt, which can discomfit suburbanites used to manicured bluegrass.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘discomfit’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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GRE
GRE words from Princeton Review guide, ETS GRE Book from 2010 (for revised test), New Yorker/NY Times articles.
sycophant, obsequious, volubility, equanimity, enervate, effrontery, impertinent, platitude, impudence, quiescent, propitiate, equivocate and 124 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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SAT words
abase, abate, abet, abject, abjure, abrogate, abscond, abstruse, accolade, accommodating, accost, accretion and 202 more...
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All The Words
I enjoy collecting words, for I have no fear of them ever running out.
tatterdemalion, panopticon, idioglossia, hypnagogue, hypnopomp, defenestration, anacoluthon, scofflaw, affront, edifying, palimpsest, naufrage and 476 more...
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jaradgiese's Words
paronomasia, ostensible, insouciant, sobriquet, burlesque, insalubrious, apotheosis, hyperbole, connubial, felicity, florid, conurbation and 642 more...
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GRE Words
abjure, unswear, state, rescission, indemnification, ab, reny, abnegate, vitiated, vitiate, adumbrated, abash and 378 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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Caesar
Bellum Gallicum
encroach, vanquish, bid, assail, avail, surmount, coerce, discomfit, rout, noteworthy, subjugate, governance and 22 more...
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BonMots
assiduous, progeny, hegemony, nascent, reticent, ephemera, zeitgeist, recalcitrant, copious, corporeal, cacaphonous, obstreperous and 108 more...
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spazgirl's words
dilettante, elegy, derelict, evince, solicitous, shibboleth, exculpate, karma, animadversion, arrogate, effrontery, grouse and 114 more...
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1st cut
abeyance, abscission, abyss, accretion, acidulous, adulterate, adumbrate, aerie, ameliorate, anachoronistic, analgesia, anodyne and 315 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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cloudjuice's Words
schadenfreude, sordid, promulgate, erratic, erroneous, amalgamate, sesquipedalian, incongruous, psychosis, etymology, simulacrum, serendipity and 988 more...
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School Words
hagiography, antediluvian, rakish, impeccable, hackneyed, irascible, nascent, teetotaller, suffragette, amiable, expiate, turbulent and 110 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for discomfit.
yarb Perhaps she scratched too hard. Sep 30, 2008
reesetee Wow. That's discomfited, all right. Sep 30, 2008
bilby "A budding British cook died last week after eating his own spicy tomato sauce, the London Times reports. Andrew Lee, 33, challenged his girlfriend’s brother to a contest, arriving with a jar of the sauce, made with chilies his father had grown. After eating it, he felt itchy and discomfited, and fell asleep while his girlfriend scratched his back. The next morning he was dead."
- 'UK Cook Eats Own Hot Sauce, Dies', newser.com, 29 Sep 2008. Sep 30, 2008