English Explanatory Dictionary

discomfit

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To embarrass (someone) greatly; to confuse; to perplex; to disconcert.
  2. To defeat the plans or hopes of; to frustrate; disconcert.
  3. To defeat completely; to rout.

Pronunciation

/dɪsˈkʌmfɪt/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-discomfit.wav

Word forms

discomfit discomfits discomfiting discomfitting discomfited discomfitted

Etymology

From Middle English discomfiten, from Old French desconfit, past participle of desconfire (“to undo, to destroy”), from des- (“completely”), from Latin dis- + Old French confire (“to make”), from Latin cōnficiō (“to finish up, to destroy”), from com- (“with, together”) + faciō (“to do, to make”). Later sense of “to embarrass, to disconcert” due to confusion with unrelated discomfort.

Synonyms

abash disconcert abase bring low confuse confound debase degrade demean depress discomfit dishonour embarrass humble humiliate lower mortify put to shame shame foil thwart overthrow vanquish

Related words

discomfiture discomfort

Derived words

undiscomfited
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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