English
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 *(s)twerH-, *(s)turH- (“to rotate, swirl, twirl, move around”).
Pronunciation
Verb
disturb (third-person singular simple present disturbs, present participle disturbing, simple past and past participle disturbed)
- (transitive) to confuse a quiet, constant state or a calm, continuous flow, in particular: thoughts, actions or liquids.
- Synonyms: (thoughts) perturb, unsettle; see also Thesaurus:upset
- Synonyms: (liquids) agitate, muddle, roil, trouble
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.
- (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
- (intransitive) to have a negative emotional impact; to cause emotional distress or confusion.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
confuse or irritate
- Albanian: shqetësoj (sq)
- Armenian: խանգարել (hy) (xangarel), անհանգստացնել (hy) (anhangstacʻnel)
- Azerbaijani: mane olmaq
- Belarusian: турбава́ць impf (turbavácʹ), мяша́ць impf (mjašácʹ), непако́іць impf (njepakóicʹ), трыво́жыць impf (tryvóžycʹ), перашкаджа́ць impf (pjeraškadžácʹ)
- Bulgarian: безпокоя (bg) (bezpokoja), смущавам (bg) (smuštavam)
- Catalan: molestar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 打擾 / 打扰 (zh) (dǎrǎo)
- Classical Nahuatl: cuehzoa, tolinia
- Czech: rušit (cs)
- Danish: forstyrre
- Dutch: storen (nl), verstoren (nl)
- Esperanto: perturbi
- Finnish: häiritä (fi), hämmentää (fi) (a liquid), sekoittaa (fi)
- French: déranger (fr), perturber (fr), gêner (fr)
- German: stören (de)
- Greek: ενοχλώ (el) (enochló)
- Ancient: ταράσσω (tarássō)
- Hebrew: הפריע (hifría)
- Hungarian: zavar (hu)
- Ido: trublar (io)
- Italian: disturbare (it)
- Japanese: 乱す (ja) (みだす, midasu)
- Korean: 방해하다 (ko) (banghaehada)
- Latin: turbō (la)
- Latvian: traucēt
- Lithuanian: trukdyti
- Malay: ganggu (ms), kacau, usik (ms)
- Maori: kaitorohi, kautorohi, whakahārangi, ueue, whakahīoi, whakatōhenehene
- Norman: dêrangi
- Norwegian: forstyrre (no)
- Old Turkic: 𐰉𐰆𐰞𐰍𐰀 (bulɣa-)
- Ottoman Turkish: بوزمق (bozmak)
- Persian: مزاحم شدن (fa)
- Phoenician: 𐤓𐤂𐤆 (rgz)
- Polish: przeszkadzać (pl) impf, niepokoić (pl) impf
- Portuguese: perturbar (pt)
- Romanian: deranja (ro)
- Russian: меша́ть (ru) impf (mešátʹ), беспоко́ить (ru) impf (bespokóitʹ), возмуща́ть (ru) impf (vozmuščátʹ), трево́жить (ru) impf (trevóžitʹ), смуща́ть (ru) impf (smuščátʹ)
- Scottish Gaelic: buair, cuir dragh air
- Southern Altai: тийер (tiyer), булгаар (bulgaar)
- Spanish: perturbar (es), molestar (es), disturbar (es), conturbar (es), estorbar (es)
- Swedish: störa (sv)
- Tagalog: gambala, abala (tl)
- Thai: รบกวน (th) (róp-guuan)
- Turkish: rahatsız etmek (tr)
- Tày: cảo xảo, cảo na̱o
- Ukrainian: турбува́ти impf (turbuváty), міша́ти impf (mišáty), триво́жити impf (tryvóžyty), перешкоджа́ти impf (pereškodžáty), непоко́їти impf (nepokójity)
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have negative emotional impact
Noun
disturb
- (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