Meaning & use
dysregulating
Last updated
“dysregulating” is a form of “dysregulate”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meaning
verbtransitivetechnical
Causing a body process, emotion, or control system to stop working in its normal, balanced way.
Grammar: Takes an object: something dysregulates a system or a person's emotions.
Patterns
- dysregulate something
- dysregulating a process
- be dysregulated by something
Long-term stress can dysregulate the body's immune response.
The study found that poor sleep was dysregulating the participants' blood sugar control.
Trauma may dysregulate the nervous system, leaving a person constantly on edge.
Word forms
| third person singular | dysregulates |
|---|---|
| past tense | dysregulated |
| past participle | dysregulated |
| -ing form | dysregulating |
Common combinations
- dysregulate the immune system
- Certain diseases can dysregulate the immune system, making it attack healthy tissue.
- dysregulate emotions
- Children who have experienced neglect may struggle to dysregulate their emotions appropriately.
- dysregulate a pathway
- The mutation dysregulates a key signaling pathway in cell growth.
- dysregulating effect
- Researchers noted the dysregulating effect of the chemical on hormone production.
Synonyms and how they differ
- disrupt
- Disrupt is more general and can refer to any interruption, while dysregulate specifically means damaging a system's normal regulation.
- unbalance
- Unbalance suggests losing balance, often in a physical or emotional sense; dysregulate is used more in scientific and medical contexts.
- impair
- Impair means making something weaker or less effective, but it does not necessarily imply a failure of regulation.
Opposites
Word family
- dysregulation noun
- The condition of a system not being properly controlled or balanced.
- dysregulated adjective
- Describing a system or process that is not functioning in a normal, regulated way.
Commonly confused: dysregulating or deregulate?
dysregulating vs deregulate
Deregulate means removing government rules from an industry (e.g., deregulate the banks), while dysregulate means causing a biological or psychological system to malfunction.
Practice
The new findings suggest that chronic inflammation can ______ the body's stress response, leading to further health problems.
Choose one answer.
Dysregulate is the correct term for causing a biological system to lose its normal control. Deregulate refers to removing official rules, disregulate is not a standard word, and regulate would mean the opposite of what the sentence describes.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “dysregulating”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.