Meanings
present singular third person disarrays · participle present disarraying · participle past disarrayed · past disarrayed
- transitiveTo throw into disorder; to break the array of.
Who with fiery steeds / Oft disarray'd the foes in battle ranged.
1726, Elijah Fenton, Odyssey - transitiveTo take off the dress of; to unrobe.
So as she bad, that witch they disaraid
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 46
plural disarrays
- countableuncountableA lack of array or regular order; disorder; confusion.
On leaving the train at Piccadilly, everything goes 'Pete Tong'. Services are in complete disarray, as a tree has come down onto the line at Gatley.
2024 October 30, Paul Bigland, “The heat is on... and will the railway fray”, in RAIL, number 1021, page 462 more examples
So, in order to apply a good medicine to the hurt parts of the wildish psyche, in order to aright relationship to the archetype of the Wild Woman, one has to name the disarrays of the psyche accurately.
1992, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run with the Wolves, Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, page 9Tottenham pushed forward in an attempt to complete the recovery - but only succeeded in leaving themselves wide open to Chelsea's attacks and Redknapp's side ended in total disarray.
2012 April 15, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea”, in BBC - countableuncountableConfused attire; undress; dishabille.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna mental state characterized by a lack of clear and orderly thought and behavior
noununtidiness (especially of clothing and appearance)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Frenchdesareer
- Middle Frenchdesarroyer
- Middle Englishdisareyen“to disarray”
- Englishdisarray
From Middle English disareyen (“to disarray”), from Middle French desarroyer, from Old French desareer, from des- (“dis-”) + areer (“to array”).
More words from Middle English, Middle French, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian разбърквам, събличам
- разбърквам (razbărkvam)To throw into disorder; to break the array of
- събличам (săbličam)To take off the dress of; to unrobe
- бъркотия (bărkotija)Want of array or regular order
- безпорядък (bezporjadăk)Want of array or regular order
Catalan desordenar, desgavellar
- desordenarTo throw into disorder; to break the array of
- desgavellarTo throw into disorder; to break the array of
- desordreWant of array or regular order
- desoriWant of array or regular order
- desgavellWant of array or regular order
Chinese Mandarin 混乱
- 混乱 (hùnluàn)To throw into disorder; to break the array of
Dutch verstoren, verwarren
- verstorenTo throw into disorder; to break the array of
- verwarrenTo throw into disorder; to break the array of
- uitkledenTo take off the dress of; to unrobe
- wanordeWant of array or regular order
Esperanto disaranĝo
- disaranĝoWant of array or regular order
Finnish sekoittaa, panna sekaisin
- sekoittaaTo throw into disorder; to break the array of
- panna sekaisinTo throw into disorder; to break the array of
- saattaa epäjärjestykseenTo throw into disorder; to break the array of
- sekasortoWant of array or regular order
- kaaosWant of array or regular order
- epäjärjestysWant of array or regular order
- epäjärjestysConfused attire; undress
French désordonner, troubler
- désordonnerTo throw into disorder; to break the array of
- troublerTo throw into disorder; to break the array of
- perturberTo throw into disorder; to break the array of
- désordreWant of array or regular order
- désarroiWant of array or regular order
- zizanieWant of array or regular order
- chaosWant of array or regular order
German Unordnung, Verwirrung
- UnordnungWant of array or regular order
- VerwirrungConfused attire; undress
Hindi व्यूहभंग
- व्यूहभंग (vyūhbhaṅg)To throw into disorder; to break the array of
Māori kaumingomingo
- kaumingomingoWant of array or regular order
Norwegian Bokmål ulage, uorden
- ulageWant of array or regular order
- uordenWant of array or regular order
Portuguese cizânia
- cizâniaWant of array or regular order
Romanian dezorganiza, zăpăci
- dezorganizaTo throw into disorder; to break the array of
- zăpăciTo throw into disorder; to break the array of
- dezbrăcaTo take off the dress of; to unrobe
- dezordineWant of array or regular order
- neorânduialăWant of array or regular order
Spanish desarreglo, desacomodo
- desarregloWant of array or regular order
- desacomodoWant of array or regular order
Swedish oreda, oordning
- oredaWant of array or regular order
- oordningWant of array or regular order
Turkish teşevvüş
- teşevvüşWant of array or regular order
Ukrainian безла́ддя
- безла́ддя (bezláddja)Want of array or regular order
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with disarray
All rhymes →Cite this entry
disarray. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disarray
“disarray.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disarray. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “disarray,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disarray.
Source: disarray on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.