disturb
Etymology

From Middle English destourben, from Anglo-Norman distourber and Old French destorber, from Latin disturbare, intensifying for turbare ("to throw into disorder"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *twerH-, *(s)turH- ("to rotate, swirl, twirl, move around").

Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /dɪˈstɜːb/
  • (America) IPA: /dɪˈstɝb/
Verb

disturb (disturbs, present participle disturbing; simple past and past participle disturbed)

  1. (transitive) to confuse a quiet, constant state or a calm, continuous flow, in particular: thoughts, actions or liquids.
    The noisy ventilation disturbed me during the exam.
    The performance was disturbed twice by a ringing mobile phone.
    A school of fish disturbed the water.
  2. (transitive) to divert, redirect, or alter by disturbing.
    A mudslide disturbed the course of the river.
    The trauma disturbed his mind.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:
      disturb his inmost counsels from their destined aim
  3. (intransitive) to have a negative emotional impact; to cause emotional distress or confusion.
Translations Translations Noun

disturb

  1. (obsolete) disturbance
    • 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:
      Instant without disturb they took alarm



This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
Offline English dictionary