DISHEVELLED

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dishevelled mean? 

• DISHEVELLED (adjective)
  The adjective DISHEVELLED has 1 sense:

1. in disarray; extremely disorderly

  Familiarity information: DISHEVELLED used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISHEVELLED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

In disarray; extremely disorderly

Synonyms:

disheveled; dishevelled; frowzled; rumpled; tousled

Context example:

his brown hair was tousled, thick, and curly

Similar:

untidy (not neat and tidy)

 Context examples 

There, indeed, was a woman with dishevelled hair, holding her hands over her heart as one distressed with running.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

For a few minutes, while you smooth your hair—which is somewhat dishevelled; and bathe your face—which looks feverish?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

When at last he succeeded in rolling clear of her, he crawled to his feet, badly dishevelled, hurt both in body and in spirit.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

In a state between sleeping and waking, you noticed her entrance and her actions; but feverish, almost delirious as you were, you ascribed to her a goblin appearance different from her own: the long dishevelled hair, the swelled black face, the exaggerated stature, were figments of imagination; results of nightmare: the spiteful tearing of the veil was real: and it is like her.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

We went upstairs, through period bedrooms swathed in rose and lavender silk and vivid with new flowers, through dressing rooms and poolrooms, and bathrooms with sunken baths—intruding into one chamber where a dishevelled man in pajamas was doing liver exercises on the floor.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)