Meanings
comparative more disruptive · superlative most disruptive
- Causing disruption or unrest.
Children who exhibit disruptive behaviour may be expelled from school.
- businessCausing major change, as in a market.
disruptive technologies
2 more examples
Each time a disruptive technology emerged, between one-half and two-thirds of the established manufacturers failed to introduce models employing the new architecture—in stark contrast to their timely launches of critical sustaining technologies.
1995 January–February, Joseph L. Bower, Clayton M. Christensen, “Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave”, in Harvard Business Review[…] companies tend to lose their leadership positions to companies that enter the market with a disruptive technology or market change.
2005, Karl D. Schubert, CIO Survival Guide, page 222
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivecharacterized by unrest or disorder or insubordination
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From disrupt + -ive. In the business sense popularized by Clayton Christensen and Joseph Bower, see 1995 citation.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan disruptiu, disgregatiu
- disruptiucausing disrupt or unrest
- disgregatiucausing disrupt or unrest
Chinese Mandarin 分裂性的, 扰动的
- 分裂性的causing disrupt or unrest
- 扰动的causing disrupt or unrest
Czech rušivý, narušující
- rušivýcausing disrupt or unrest
- narušujícícausing disrupt or unrest
- vyrušujícícausing disrupt or unrest
- rozkladnýcausing disrupt or unrest
- rozvratnýcausing disrupt or unrest
Dutch storend, onrustwekkend
- storendcausing disrupt or unrest
- onrustwekkendcausing disrupt or unrest
Finnish häiritsevä
- häiritseväcausing disrupt or unrest
French perturbant, dérangeant
- perturbantcausing disrupt or unrest
- dérangeantcausing disrupt or unrest
German störend, disruptiv
- störendcausing disrupt or unrest
- disruptivcausing major change
Greek διαταρακτικός
- διαταρακτικός (diataraktikós)causing disrupt or unrest
Hungarian bomlasztó, züllesztő
- bomlasztócausing disrupt or unrest
- züllesztőcausing disrupt or unrest
- zavart keltőcausing disrupt or unrest
Italian frantumante, disgregante
- frantumantecausing disrupt or unrest
- disgregantecausing disrupt or unrest
Korean 산만한
- 산만한 (sanmanhan)causing disrupt or unrest
Norwegian splittende, nedbrytende
- splittendecausing disrupt or unrest
- nedbrytendecausing disrupt or unrest
Polish rozpraszający, zakłócający spokój
- rozpraszającycausing disrupt or unrest
- zakłócający spokójcausing disrupt or unrest
Portuguese diruptivo, disruptivo
- diruptivocausing disrupt or unrest
- disruptivocausing disrupt or unrest
Russian разруши́тельный, опустоши́тельный
- разруши́тельный (razrušítelʹnyj)causing disrupt or unrest
- опустоши́тельный (opustošítelʹnyj)causing disrupt or unrest
- подрывно́й (podryvnój)causing disrupt or unrest
Spanish perturbante, disruptivo
- perturbantecausing disrupt or unrest
- disruptivocausing disrupt or unrest
Turkish rahatsız edici
- rahatsız edicicausing disrupt or unrest
Ukrainian руйнівни́й, підривни́й
- руйнівни́й (rujnivnýj)causing disrupt or unrest
- підривни́й (pidryvnýj)causing disrupt or unrest
Cite this entry
disruptive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disruptive
“disruptive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disruptive. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “disruptive,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disruptive.
Source: disruptive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.