1
as in paralyzing
to deprive of courage or confidence
the near crash of the airliner was a completely unmanning experience for the passengers
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in discouraging
to lessen the courage or confidence of
players who wouldn't let themselves be unmanned by the loss of a single game
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unmanning
Verb
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Dawood said she's gone through paralyzing panic attacks and intense therapy.—
Sara Moniuszko,
USA Today,
28 Apr. 2026 -
According to some experts, this paralyzing fear and desperation are factors that scammers exploit to put their criminal schemes into action.—
Albinson Linares,
NBC news,
26 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The Charter closes by discouraging the creation of new categories of IP law or extending patent and copyright terms.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
24 Apr. 2026
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Analysts said investors were focusing on potentially discouraging numbers underneath the surface, including decelerating growth in trends for its software business.—
Stan Choe,
Fortune,
23 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Clumsiness notwithstanding, bringing a criminal case against a journalist who was reporting on a protest is an authoritarian tactic—a means of frightening the press away from uncovering the truth.—
Quinta Jurecic,
The Atlantic,
30 Jan. 2026
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But monks there complained that the slain king was walking around at night, frightening them with strange sounds.—
Rivka Galchen,
New Yorker,
7 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Mack and the Chargers’ defense pressured quarterbacks Jalen Hurts of the Eagles and Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs, frustrating them and keeping them out of their comfort zones.—
Elliott Teaford,
Oc Register,
20 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Directed by Lee Sang-min, the film stars Kim Hye-yoon and Lee Jong-won as a road-view camera crew that encounters terrifying supernatural events at a remote reservoir.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
13 Apr. 2026
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The air in the room changed immediately, terrifying little Liza.—
Elisabeth Garber-Paul,
Rolling Stone,
14 Mar. 2026
Verb
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This is the page in the racing program full of numbers, abbreviations and lines that looks intimidating at first.—
Neil Greenberg,
New York Times,
1 May 2026
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The Chapitos helped Rocha Moya, who has been governor since November 2021, get elected by stealing ballots, as well as kidnapping and intimidating opponents, the document said.—
Tom Winter,
NBC news,
30 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Plus, nobody will careen past you at 110 mph, scaring you spitless.—
Allen Best,
Denver Post,
24 Apr. 2026
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This isn’t a film about trauma, or smuggled-in social issues, or anything at all, really, besides the honest workaday business of scaring the bejesus out of its audience, rinsing, and repeating with extra vigor.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
16 Apr. 2026
Verb
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In the political sphere—an arena that’s increasingly entangled with social media—figures such as Elon Musk decry empathy as an emasculating plague.—
Katy Waldman,
New Yorker,
12 Jan. 2026
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And yet precisely this dynamic ensures that commitment between men, the kind of domesticity that David and Giovanni attempt to establish in Giovanni’s room, can only ever be emasculating.—
Garth Greenwell,
Harpers Magazine,
19 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Unmanning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unmanning. Accessed 3 May. 2026.
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