to disarray

Examples

• All

• I watched him hurry toward the gate as Dr. Margaret Foley suddenly emerged after him, harried, her graying hair disarrayed.

  Fiction book (1998)

• We took the train together, drinking Scotch the whole way, and met our stiff and beautiful debutante dates quite drunk, our hair messed up and our red sashes disarrayed.

  Fiction book (1996)

• You cause disarray of the stereocilia.

• Never to wander blind in first foray. Sentient air, lead her not to disarray. She flails.

  Academic text (2015)

• Conservatives are comparably disarrayed.

  Blog text (24)

• Students of cropland change can be thoroughly confused by the disarrayed U.S. Department of Agriculture, which publishes two different sets of "official federal statistics" that do not agree (Table I).

  Academic text (2001)

• She had obviously come to our house in haste; her sleek black hair was disarrayed, and she still wore the slim jeans and sweatshirt she had obviously changed into when she got home.

  Fiction book (1998)

• The table was littered with cigarette butts and disarrayed piles of poker chips; behind it, the bed was strewn with delicatessen sandwiches.

  Fiction book (1997)

• The woman in "Sweeney Among the Nightingales" is neither defeated, nor disarrayed, nor distraught upon the floor, but rather "reorganized" there by a force that redresses Sweeney's shattering effect.

  Academic text (2017)

• The storm disarrayed the entire garden, leaving plants uprooted and debris scattered everywhere.

Synonyms

M

to mess

vsto disarray

248 1.0

To make something untidy or dirty

is slightly more formal or abstract than this everyday phrase

M

to mix up

vsto disarray

• Informal

65 2.7

To make people confused and things messy

focuses on physical untidiness or disorder rather than identity confusion

M

to mess up

vsto disarray

• Informal

52 3.0

To make something untidy, dirty, or not in the right place

is a neutral term for causing untidiness or confusion

C

to confuse

vsto disarray

38 1.9

Mix things up so their order is not clear

applies more to visible untidiness and disorder than to mental jumbling

J

to jumble

vsto disarray

22 3.8

Mix things together in a confused way

is about general untidiness rather than the act of mixing items together

D

to disorder

vsto disarray

7 5.5

To make something untidy or not in its usual order

focuses more on causing confusion rather than merely disturbing arrangement

C

to cause chaos

vsto disarray

7 4.1

To make a place or situation very messy and confused

is milder, meaning general disorder rather than extreme disruption

D

to disorganize

vsto disarray

• US

4 4.5

To make something lose its order or structure

is milder, focusing on confusion rather than system collapse

D

to dishevel

vsto disarray

2 8.1

To make someone's hair or clothes look untidy

applies to any kind of disorder beyond personal appearance

C

to create a mess

vsto disarray

1 2.1

Make a place messy so things are not in order

can apply more widely to confusion beyond physical untidiness

D

to disarrange

vsto disarray

1 6.4

To make something messy or not in the right order

applies more broadly to confusion rather than only disturbed arrangement

Antonyms

O

to organize

• US

662 1.6

Arrange people, things, and activities so they work well

T

to tidy up

• Informal

32 1.5

Make a room or desk neat by putting things in their right place

How Messy

to disarray

1 5.6

to mess up

• Informal

52 3.0

to disarrange

1 6.4

to rumple

6 5.4

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology