disquieting 1 of 2

adjective

1
as in disturbing
causing worry or anxiety disquieting news of troubles downtown

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2
as in uneasy
marked by or causing agitation or uncomfortable feelings with a disquieting voice she asked me to investigate the strange noise coming from the basement

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disquieting

2 of 2

verb

present participle of disquiet
as in alarming
to trouble the mind of; to make uneasy we were disquieted by the strange noises we heard outside our tent at night

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of disquieting
Adjective
That was a disquieting pointer to Federal Reserve Board policy, for the central bank counted controlling inflation, not enduring full employment, as one of its mandates. — Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2026 Putting his lean and sinewy physicality to disquieting use, McNairy makes Wilson both unreadable and coldly transparent, giving him equal parts menace and magnetism. — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 17 Sep. 2026 Director Michelangelo Antonioni delivers an unresolved ending that hangs like a melancholic fog over this visually stunning, yet disquieting, two-and-a-half-hour classic. — Maggie Turner, Air Mail, 25 July 2026 He’s long delved into the dark corners of his lived and theoretical experience, pushing toward sticky, disquieting ideas that sent ripples of nervous laughter through a crowd unable to reject his reasoning. — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 30 June 2026 There is also, again, the disquieting realization that four Justices were willing to change the meaning of birthright citizenship, albeit to different degrees, and for varying reasons. — Amy Davidson Sorkin, New Yorker, 30 June 2026 But there’s also something more disquieting at work here, and not just when George’s advances begin to feel very much like, well, advances. — Guy Lodge, Variety, 19 June 2026 Much of the film’s success, however, derives not from the twists and turns of plot but from simply situating the viewer in the disquieting vibe of this bizarre place. — David Sims, The Atlantic, 27 May 2026 Paying tribute to a South Carolina town destroyed in the 1950s for a nuclear materials plant, the Durham avant-folk trio's disquieting new album is both a community service and a spiritual offering. — Lily Goldberg, Pitchfork, 22 May 2026
Verb
Concurrently, the duo was seeing a growth of comic conventions, but a disquieting sidelining of artists at the same time. — Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 10 Sep. 2026 The light is always ‘slanted,’ casting the novel’s gnomic creations in disquieting atmospherics. — Literary Hub, 23 July 2026 In a powerful and disquieting GQ profile, the band and some immediate friends and family unraveled the struggles that have plagued their lucrative but life-altering reunion, a kind of cautionary tale for leveling up after settling down. — Sam Sodomsky, Pitchfork, 4 May 2026 The author calculated the shock wave’s energy that would be deposited in a human body by using physics similar to that of a bullet impact, which, though disquieting to say the least, is not a bad assumption from a scientific standpoint. — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 24 Apr. 2026 The impersonations were disquieting. — Robert Faturechi, ProPublica, 11 Apr. 2026 Her images of ice blocks, lush fabrics, cherries, sea animals, and charred hearts are disquieting in the best way and well worth trekking to Santa Monica to witness in person. — Emma Specter, Vogue, 27 Feb. 2026 The subjects say rending but also disquieting things about killing. — Lisa Kennedy, Variety, 27 Jan. 2026 This is NDiaye at her disquieting best. — Emma Alpern, Vulture, 30 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disquieting
  1. disturbing
  2. uneasy
  3. alarming
  4. unsettling
  5. tense
  6. distracting
  7. troubling
  8. anxious
Adjective
  • Even when the metaphor is painfully on the nose, the film’s most disturbing images are more than their dramatic limitations and a whale is still an astonishing place to spend a movie.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 14 Oct. 2026
  • When her aunt Helena and paralyzed grandmother Regina arrive, the fragile boundaries between everyday life, ancestral superstition and Trina’s increasingly disturbing nightmares begin to collapse.
    — Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of disturbing
Adjective
  • Giving team members insight into what is known, what remains unchanged and what may come next can help people navigate uneasy periods of uncertainty with greater confidence.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Experts say Chinese officials likely felt uneasy about that opening.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of uneasy
Verb
  • But the idea that fine adaptations of great books need to be stopping points, rather than springboards, is alarming by itself.
    — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 16 Oct. 2026
  • There are signs that the President is unravelling, in ways that are different from late-period Joe Biden but are alarming all the same.
    — David Remnick, New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2026
Definition of alarming
Adjective
  • The mystery comedy, loosely inspired by the 1989 film starring Tom Hanks, follows a married couple whose move into the husband's childhood home exposes unsettling secrets in their seemingly quiet suburban neighborhood.
    — Danielle Minnetian, FOXNews.com, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Liminal Yellow can read as warm or slightly unsettling, WGSN says, depending on how it is styled.
    — Alexandra Harrell, Footwear News, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of unsettling
Adjective
  • Kushner has defended his private sector connections as having enabled the United States to gain leverage and breakthroughs in tense negotiations.
    — Emily Hallas, The Washington Examiner, 15 Oct. 2026
  • British Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge, played by Rory Kinnear, reveals the news to Hal Wyler, Vice President of the United States, played by Rufus Sewell, in a rather tense meeting in London.
    — Peter White, Deadline, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of tense
Verb
  • Today’s computers are approachable, but also distracting, argues Caligra co-founder and CEO Grant Bisset.
    — Daniel Varghese, Time, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Maybe his conning can be curtailed someday, but the thought there’d ever be enough distracting chaos for a similarly lengthy follow-up is almost too much to bear.
    — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of distracting
Adjective
  • More troubling still is that their grasp on time, then their very consciousness, begins to break down.
    — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
  • The worst security failure in the country’s history raised troubling questions about whether the financial lifeline helped to sustain Hamas’s grip on power and, in turn, enabled it to carry out the assault.
    — Eric Cortellessa, Time, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of troubling
Adjective
  • There’s also reassuring initial bite at the top of the travel, yet the setup doesn’t feel grabby or overly anxious in everyday driving situations.
    — Bradley Iger, Robb Report, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Gong’s collection followed the emotional arc of unrequited love, from the first spark and the anxious wait to the social-media sleuthing, a date, and the sudden disappearance that follows.
    — Tianwei Zhang, Footwear News, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of anxious

Browse Nearby Words

disquieted
disquieting
disquiets
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Cite this Entry

“Disquieting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disquieting. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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