discomfiting

comparative more discomfiting · superlative most discomfiting · alternative discomfitting

1. Tending to discomfit (“embarrass greatly; upset the composure of, disconcert”).

   O I am deadly ſick!—reach me that thing, boy—'tis the moſt diſcomfiting ſickness— [...]

   1765, [Laurence Sterne], chapter II, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume VII, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, […], →OCLC, page 9

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   Under ſuch diſcomfiting circumſtance as general neglect, and that too palpable to be miſunderſtood, the whole of this picture was buried in oblivion; [...]

   1793, “a Personal Observer” [pseudonym], Truth Opposed to Fiction. Or, An Authentic and Impartial Review of the Life of the Late Right Honourable the Earl of Barrymore. […], London: […] C. and G. Kearsley, […], →OCLC, page 33

   Streaker, the housemaid, too, had an attribute of a most discomfiting nature. I am unable to say whether she was of an unusually lymphatic temperament, or what else was the matter with her, but this young woman became a mere Distillery for the production of the largest and most transparent tears I ever met with.

   1859 December 13, [Charles Dickens], “[The Haunted House] The Mortals in the House”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round. A Weekly Journal. [...] With which is Incorporated Household Words, volume I, Christmas number, London: No. 26, Wellington Street [printed by C. Whiting, […]], →OCLC, page 5, column 1

   From the first page of this book [Dark Rosaleen (1915) by M. E. Francis] to the last this shadow of things beyond human ken, this blind acceptance of powers that it would almost be an impiety in mere mortals even to try to understand, colours and distorts the minds of all the chief protagonists in this rather terrible and discomfiting story.

   1915 October, Edwin Pugh, “Four Novels”, in The Bookman, volume XLIX, number 289, London: Hodder and Stoughton […], →OCLC, page 25, column 1

   Suddenly, to my eyes, my throat, my mouth there rushed tears and a cry which I stifled into a feigned cough into my handkerchief. The waiter noticed my discomfiting state and poured more tea.

   1992, Alejandro Morales, chapter 14, in The Rag Doll Plagues, Houston, Tex.: Arte Público Press, →ISBN, page 64

   Imagination, like memory, can be selective, editing out those details which are painful or discomfiting.

   2007, Sam Portaro, “Martin Luther King, Jr.: Civil Rights Leader, 1968”, in Brightest and Best: A Companion to the Lesser Feasts and Fasts (A Cowley Publications Book), revised edition, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, page 73

   Synonyms: discomforting, disconcerting, troubling, unsettling, upsetting

alternative discomfitting

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of discomfit