discombobulate

WOTD – 9 May 2006    

English

Etymology

A 19th-century US coinage, probably based on discompose, discomfit, etc. Obsolete variations include discomboberate, discombulate, discombobricate.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌdɪs.kəmˈbɒb.jəˌleɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

discombobulate (third-person singular simple present discombobulates, present participle discombobulating, simple past and past participle discombobulated)

1. (transitive, humorous) To throw into a state of confusion; to befuddle or perplex.

Antonyms

• recombobulate

Translations

to befuddle

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: zmást (cs), vyvést z míry (žertovně) (cs)
• Dutch: in de war schoppen, verstoren
• Finnish: hämmentää (fi)
• French: décontenancer (fr), déconfire (fr), déconcerter (fr)

• Italian: scombussolare (it)
• Russian: сбить с толку (ru) (sbit' s tolku) n, смутить (ru) (smutit') n, выбить из колеи (ru) (vybit' iz kolei) n
• Serbo-Croatian: збунити (sh) (zbuniti), помутити (sh) (pomutiti), избити из колосека (sh) (izbiti iz koloseka)