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Glite Dictionary
😟 Causing worry 🌪️ Making unstable
unsettling

unsettling

1 5.1
Making something unstable or likely to move
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈsɛtəlɪŋ/
translation icon : desestabilizador
  • In the dense mountain clay, there are the outlines of walls, stairs, and benches, but it's unsettling.

Examples

  • Moving furniture around in her bedroom was unsettling for the young child.

  • I know that for a young child, moving furniture around can be unsettling, especially when it is in their bedroom.

    Blog text (9)

  • Most unsettling was the victims' clothing, which could be seen here and there decaying in the ground.

    Blog text (3)

  • Lithium-ion batteries also have a rather unsettling tendency, on rare occasions, to burst into flames.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Sudden change can be destabilizing, unsettling to allies, inconsistent with commitments, and deemed further evidence of unreliability.

    Academic text (1992)

  • At about 8 p.m. on Monday night, the east-facing windows in my Brooklyn apartment started to bubble and buckle inward in a deeply unsettling way.

    Blog text (15)

  • The sudden loud noise was unsettling, causing everyone to stop and look around.

  • Seeing the painting tilted at an unsettling angle made her feel uneasy.

Antonyms

to anchor
51 3.4

To hold something in place so it does not move

stabilizing
  • US
1 3.7

Making something steady and less likely to change suddenly

How Unstable

to topple
93 4.1
to dislodge
15 6.1
unsettling
1 5.1
jostling
4 3.6
loosening
6 3.4

Surface Forms

unsettling positive

Morphology

unsettling = unsettle (transparent) = un + settle + ing

The physical sense ('make unstable or dislodged') follows directly from 'un-' + 'settle' and the participial '-ing'.

Etymology

Unsettling is made of un- meaning 'not' and settle meaning 'to put in place or make steady', like in a settlement. So an unsettling movement makes a thing 'not steady' and can cause wobble or dislodging.