discombobulate

English

WOTD – 9 May 2006

Alternative forms

• discomboberate
• discombulate
• discombobricate
• discombooberate

Etymology

1834 US, fanciful variant of discompose, discomfit, etc., originally discombobricate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌdɪs.kəmˈbɒb.jəˌleɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Verb

discombobulate (third-person singular simple present discombobulates, present participle discombobulating, simple past and past participle discombobulated)

1. (transitive, humorous) To throw into a state of confusion; to befuddle or perplex.
   • 1895, John Kendrick Bangs, “Story-tellers' Night”, in A House-Boat on the Styx, New York: Harper & Brothers, published 1901, page 132:

     Can't you and I pretend to quarrel? A personal assault by you on me will wake these people up and discombobulate Goldsmith. Say the word—only don't hit too hard.

   • 1999 December 13, Anthony Tommasini, “MUSIC REVIEW; Plenty Of Zigzags, But Hold The Angst”, in The New York Times, page E3:

     The notes zigzag in his pieces and discombobulate the ear, just as in 12-tone works.

   • 2009 December 25, Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham, Simon Kinberg, 17:18 from the start, in Sherlock Holmes, spoken by Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.):

     First, distract target. Then block his blind jab. Counter with cross to left cheek. Discombobulate. Dazed, he'll attempt wild haymaker. Employ elbow block.

Antonyms

• combobulate
• recombobulate

Translations

befuddle

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 使困惑 (shǐ kùnhuò), 使迷惑 (shǐ míhuò)

• Czech: zblbnout (cs), vykolejit
• Danish: forvirre
• Dutch: in de war schoppen, verstoren (nl)
• Finnish: hämmentää (fi), hämätä (fi), panna pasmat sekaisin
• French: décontenancer (fr), déconfire (fr), déconcerter (fr)
• German: verwirren (de)
• Hungarian: összezavar (hu), megzavar (hu)
• Italian: scombussolare (it)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forvirre (no)

  Nynorsk: forvirre

• Russian: сбить с толку (ru) n (sbitʹ s tolku), смути́ть (ru) n (smutítʹ), вы́бить из колеи n (výbitʹ iz kolei)
• Serbo-Croatian: збунити (zbuniti), помутити (pomutiti), избити из колосека (izbiti iz koloseka)
• Spanish: desconcertar (es), confundir (es)
• Swedish: förvirra (sv)

See also

• Appendix:Fanciful 19th century American coinages