Meaning & use
disconcerting
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Meaning
adjectivecomparable
Making you feel uneasy, unsettled or unsure of how to react.
Grammar: Describes the thing that causes the feeling: a disconcerting silence. The person feeling it is disconcerted.
Patterns
- it is disconcerting to do something
- disconcerting for someone
It was disconcerting to hear my own voice on the recording.
The disconcerting silence lasted nearly a minute.
She gave him a disconcerting stare across the table.
Common combinations
- find it disconcerting
- Many people find it disconcerting to speak in public.
- a disconcerting silence
- A disconcerting silence followed his question.
- a disconcerting habit
- He has the disconcerting habit of never blinking.
- rather disconcerting
- The news was rather disconcerting.
- a disconcerting experience
- Being followed by a drone was a disconcerting experience.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unsettling
- Unsettling is slightly more general and can suggest a deeper worry, while disconcerting stresses being thrown off balance.
- disturbing
- Disturbing is stronger and usually points to something upsetting or troubling.
- unnerving
- Unnerving suggests the thing makes you afraid or nervous, which is stronger than disconcerting.
- awkward
- Awkward describes social discomfort, while disconcerting describes a strange or surprising quality.
Opposites
Word family
- disconcert verb
- to make someone feel uneasy or confused
- disconcerted adjective
- feeling uneasy or confused
- disconcertingly adverb
- in a way that makes people uneasy
- concert noun
- the root idea of harmony, which the prefix dis- reverses
Commonly confused: disconcerting or disconcerted? disconcerting or disconnecting?
disconcerting vs disconcerted
Disconcerted describes the person who feels thrown off; disconcerting describes whatever causes that feeling.
disconcerting vs disconnecting
Disconnecting means breaking a link and is not about feelings.
Practice
I found it ___ that the shop assistant knew my name before I spoke.
Choose one answer.
Disconcerting describes the thing that causes unease. Disconcerted would describe a person, and the other two words mean something different.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “disconcerting”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.