discomfit

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
17
Words With Friends
19
Letters
9
Pronunciation
/dɪsˈkʌmfɪt/

Definition of discomfit

3 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

verb

  1. (transitive)To embarrass (someone) greatly; to confuse; to perplex; to disconcert.
    “Don't worry. Your joke did not really discomfit me.”
    “The Captain, with a half-guilty secret to confess, and with the prospect of a painful and stormy interview before him, entered Mr. Osborne's offices with a most dismal countenance and abashed gait, and, passing through the outer room where Mr. Chopper presided, was greeted by that functionary from his desk with a waggish air which farther discomfited him.”
    “She is a pretty, silly girl: but are you apprehensive that her titter will discomfit the old lady?”
    “Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.”
    “After discomfiting her tormentors or wounding and scattering them, she would return to my side. …”
See all 3 definitions

verb

  1. (transitive)To embarrass (someone) greatly; to confuse; to perplex; to disconcert.
    “Don't worry. Your joke did not really discomfit me.”
    “The Captain, with a half-guilty secret to confess, and with the prospect of a painful and stormy interview before him, entered Mr. Osborne's offices with a most dismal countenance and abashed gait, and, passing through the outer room where Mr. Chopper presided, was greeted by that functionary from his desk with a waggish air which farther discomfited him.”
    “She is a pretty, silly girl: but are you apprehensive that her titter will discomfit the old lady?”
    “Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.”
    “After discomfiting her tormentors or wounding and scattering them, she would return to my side. …”
  2. (rare, transitive)To defeat the plans or hopes of; to frustrate; disconcert.
    “In these disguises, Maitland argued, he would certainly avoid recognition, and so discomfit any mischief planned by the enemies of Margaret.”
  3. (archaic, transitive)To defeat completely; to rout.
    “Claudius therefore leauing this Ile, paſſed into Pomonia the chiefeſt of all the Orkenies, where diſcomfiting ſuch as appeared abroad to make reſiſtance, he beſieged the king of thoſe Iles named Ganus, within a caſtell where he was withdrawen, [...]”
    “And Joſhua diſcomfited Amalek, and his people, with the edge of the ſword.”
    “And his proud foes discomfit in victorious field.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

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.

Words you can make from discomfit

141 playable · top: COMFITS (14 pts)

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6-letter words

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