DISTURB

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does disturb mean? 

• DISTURB (verb)
  The verb DISTURB has 5 senses:

1. move deeply

2. change the arrangement or position of

3. tamper with

4. destroy the peace or tranquility of

5. damage as if by shaking or jarring

  Familiarity information: DISTURB used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISTURB (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they disturb    ... he / she / it disturbs   
Past simple: disturbed   
Past participle: disturbed   
-ing form: disturbing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move deeply

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

disturb; trouble; upset

Context example:

A troubling thought

Hypernyms (to "disturb" is one way to...):

affect; impress; move; strike (have an emotional or cognitive impact upon)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "disturb"):

agitate; charge; charge up; commove; excite; rouse; turn on (cause to be agitated, excited, or roused)

jolt (disturb (someone's) composure)

cark; disorder; disquiet; distract; perturb; trouble; unhinge (disturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried or alarmed)

distress (cause mental pain to)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The bad news will disturb him
The performance is likely to disturb Sue

Derivation:

disturbance (an unhappy and worried mental state)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Change the arrangement or position of

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

agitate; commove; disturb; raise up; shake up; stir up; vex

Hypernyms (to "disturb" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "disturb"):

beat; scramble (stir vigorously)

toss (agitate)

rile; roil (make turbid by stirring up the sediments of)

poke (stir by poking)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Tamper with

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

disturb; touch

Context example:

Don't touch my CDs!

Hypernyms (to "disturb" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "disturb"):

upset (disturb the balance or stability of)

violate (destroy)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

disturbance (the act of disturbing something or someone; setting something in motion)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Destroy the peace or tranquility of

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

disturb; interrupt

Context example:

Don't interrupt me when I'm reading

Hypernyms (to "disturb" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

Sam cannot disturb Sue

Sense 5

Meaning:

Damage as if by shaking or jarring

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

Don't disturb the patient's wounds by moving him too rapidly!

Hypernyms (to "disturb" is one way to...):

damage (inflict damage upon)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

Mr. Blessington seemed more excited over the matter than I should have thought possible, though of course it was enough to disturb anybody’s peace of mind.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“You disturb the company. Look at the stage!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He did not sleep, nobody disturbed him, and he did not finish the paper.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I slept some hours, but perpetually disturbed with dreams of the place I had left, and the dangers I had escaped.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate the cause of this noise which has disturbed you.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One thing disturbed her satisfaction, and that was that she did not tell them at home.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The woman now gave Dorothy a bed to sleep in, and Toto lay down beside her, while the Lion guarded the door of her room so she might not be disturbed.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

The layers of ice were smooth, suggesting the ice hadn’t been strongly disturbed during that time.

(NASA Finds Possible Second Impact Crater Under Greenland Ice, NASA)

The April 25, 2015, magnitude 7.8 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal created waves of energy that penetrated into Earth's upper atmosphere in the vicinity of Nepal, disturbing the distribution of electrons in the ionosphere.

(GPS Data Show How Nepal Quake Disturbed Earth’s Upper Atmosphere, NASA)

He was never disturbed over why a thing happened.

(White Fang, by Jack London)