as in bewildering
to throw into a state of mental uncertainty
troops disoriented by the sudden change in battle plans
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in confusing
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Recent Examples of disorienting
Jesse Hassenger, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
From within the dynamic, recognizing this can be very disorienting.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 30 Aug. 2025
This was not a hoax, exactly; Baron makes a convincing case that Lowell believed passionately in his grandiose claims, and that many members of the public wanted to believe in them, at a time of disorienting change.
—Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2025
Ultimately, this film’s absurd existentialist deadpan aligns Lanthimos’ work here closer to Ruben Östlund than ever — himself a filmmaker likely drawing from Lanthimos these days — to mine the comedy of repetitious futility to disorienting effect.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 28 Aug. 2025
The blending of genres can be disorienting.
—G Kirilloff, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2025
The rapid shifts of tone in his conversations with Nicholas can be disorienting, veering from sharp political criticism to sentimental memories of visiting the Winter Palace.
—Emily McClanathan, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 2025
That rancor combined with Nazi flags will never not be disorienting to anyone who knows what the Thousand-Year Reich that lasted for twelve years inflicted on the world.
—Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 16 Aug. 2025
This causes a sudden, disorienting shift in the drone’s flight path, making it that much harder for the anti-drone missile to do its job.
—Chris Young, Interesting Engineering, 4 Aug. 2025
Interviews with investigators and other parties invested in these cases use shifting, disorienting focus to disguise people’s physical details.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 18 Mar. 2025
Verb
One of the most disorienting moves The Paper makes right off the bat is to provide two different Michael Scott figures — neither of whom serve as the lead character the way Steve Carell’s Michael did.
—Jesse Hassenger, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
From within the dynamic, recognizing this can be very disorienting.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
Adjective
Cinematographer James Friend creates a purgatorial realm of disorienting angles and neon lights too sickly to be beautiful, the nightmarishness further underlined by Volker Bertelman’s thundering score.
—Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 30 Aug. 2025
This was not a hoax, exactly; Baron makes a convincing case that Lowell believed passionately in his grandiose claims, and that many members of the public wanted to believe in them, at a time of disorienting change.
—Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2025
Ultimately, this film’s absurd existentialist deadpan aligns Lanthimos’ work here closer to Ruben Östlund than ever — himself a filmmaker likely drawing from Lanthimos these days — to mine the comedy of repetitious futility to disorienting effect.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 28 Aug. 2025
The blending of genres can be disorienting.
—G Kirilloff, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2025
The rapid shifts of tone in his conversations with Nicholas can be disorienting, veering from sharp political criticism to sentimental memories of visiting the Winter Palace.
—Emily McClanathan, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 2025
That rancor combined with Nazi flags will never not be disorienting to anyone who knows what the Thousand-Year Reich that lasted for twelve years inflicted on the world.
—Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 16 Aug. 2025
This causes a sudden, disorienting shift in the drone’s flight path, making it that much harder for the anti-drone missile to do its job.
—Chris Young, Interesting Engineering, 4 Aug. 2025
Interviews with investigators and other parties invested in these cases use shifting, disorienting focus to disguise people’s physical details.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 18 Mar. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disorienting
Verb
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And aren’t our real-life romantic complications bewildering enough?—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
4 Sep. 2025
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Its ginormous investments in higher-value, tech-heavy sectors from smartphones to autos to semiconductors to biotechnology are disrupting the global landscape at bewildering speed.—
William Pesek,
Forbes.com,
27 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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And determining when someone is dead is the critical but confusing question at play.—
Cara Anthony,
CNN Money,
11 Sep. 2025
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For example, the eye glass space was largely fractured, confusing, and not customer-friendly before Warby Parker entered the scene with exceptional client experience, a focus on customer service and convenience, and a user-friendly product.—
Brandon Aversano,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
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That’s baffling to me that it was even checked.—
Brendan Kuty,
New York Times,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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For nearly five decades, NASA's twin Voyager probes have plumbed the cosmos in search of answers to some of astronomy's most perplexing mysteries about our solar system and its place in the wider universe.—
Eric Lagatta,
USA Today,
8 Sep. 2025
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The justice character dimension has been perplexing to people.—
Mary Crossan,
Forbes.com,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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After getting entangled in a puzzling murder, the two go on the run to solve the case while also trying to piece their relationship back together.—
James Mercadante,
PEOPLE,
4 Sep. 2025
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Colorado opened its 2025 season with a puzzling 27-20 loss to Georgia Tech on Friday night.—
Shane Shoemaker,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Tuesday will go down as one of Boston’s most confounding losses of the season, a 4-3 defeat in 11 innings to the Baltimore Orioles in which the club went 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position.—
Mac Cerullo,
Boston Herald,
22 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Unlike Europe's clear regulatory framework under PSD2, American enterprises operate in a more ambiguous environment where implementation decisions must account for evolving compliance requirements and uncertain regulatory timelines.—
Dave Glaser,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
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Dani's on-again, off-again relationship with playboy photographer Andre — who's also her sister's ex's nephew — has become more ambiguous than ever in recent weeks.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
9 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The Great War, however, turned death into something sudden, cruel and unknowable, as young men—often barely into adulthood—were slaughtered on the front line, their deaths reported to their families days or weeks later.—
Alice Vernon
September 8,
Literary Hub,
8 Sep. 2025
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That the real Kelley was married during this period is never mentioned (Kelley, in many ways, is wholly unknowable to us).—
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
8 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Disorienting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disorienting. Accessed 14 Sep. 2025.
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