as in to disturb
to trouble the mind of; to make uneasy
the news that the local grocery store had sold contaminated produce unsettled many shoppers
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Recent Examples of unsettle
Her voice, now lowered and roughened by age, serves the material well, adding a grain that makes the track feel genuinely unsettled.
—
Emma Madden, Pitchfork, 30 Apr. 2026
Instead, the results showed that, across the board, participants felt more irritated and unsettled when the infrasound was turned on, regardless of which kind of music was playing, and their cortisol levels increased significantly.
—ArsTechnica, 27 Apr. 2026
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s physicality could unsettle a Chelsea backline that has conceded seven goals in three games.
—Graham Ruthven, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2026
Regulators have challenged specific Kalshi markets while allowing others to proceed, leaving the boundaries unsettled.
—Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for unsettle
Emma Madden, Pitchfork, 30 Apr. 2026
Instead, the results showed that, across the board, participants felt more irritated and unsettled when the infrasound was turned on, regardless of which kind of music was playing, and their cortisol levels increased significantly.
—ArsTechnica, 27 Apr. 2026
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s physicality could unsettle a Chelsea backline that has conceded seven goals in three games.
—Graham Ruthven, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2026
Regulators have challenged specific Kalshi markets while allowing others to proceed, leaving the boundaries unsettled.
—Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for unsettle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unsettle
Verb
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Ty Segall exemplifies the modern indie rock experimentalist, constantly trying out new styles and attitudes and usually landing on some intense neopsychedelic sounds that can both comfort and disturb.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
25 Apr. 2026
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The worms thrash and move erratically with a snake-like motion that disturbs the topsoil.—
Maria Braganini,
CBS News,
25 Apr. 2026
Verb
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This white chocolate bar is creamy and ultra-sweet, and the great minds at TJ’s were smart to distract from the one-note flavor with crunchy little cookie crumbles.—
Alex Beggs,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
25 Apr. 2026
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The curators supply a historical backdrop, therefore, but discreetly, and without distracting us from Wright’s poetic originality.—
Julian Bell,
The New York Review of Books,
25 Apr. 2026
Verb
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With Minnesota viewing them as soft, the Nuggets hardly seem bothered by the criticism.—
Troy Renck,
Denver Post,
25 Apr. 2026
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Fuqua and Logan can’t be bothered to figure it out.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
23 Apr. 2026
Verb
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His campaign is gaining momentum at a time when many of the administration’s steadfast Christian backers—alarmed by the president’s bullying campaign against Pope Leo XIV in recent weeks, among other heresies—have been rethinking their support.—
Elizabeth Bruenig,
The Atlantic,
24 Apr. 2026
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Maduro’s capture and extraction alarmed the Cuban leadership.—
Carlos Manuel Alvarez,
Time,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
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That worries Thomas Johnson, a Black voter in New Orleans who was at the state Capitol to lobby on unrelated legislation Wednesday when the Supreme Court ruling came down.—
Nicholas Riccardi,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Apr. 2026
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When Arakas was arrested, Bon neww worried that the police might have accessed the Estonian’s BlackBerry.—
Ed Caesar,
New Yorker,
30 Apr. 2026
Verb
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There’s a lot to be concerned about.—
Emma Hinchliffe,
Fortune,
28 Apr. 2026
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The king’s visit with a deeply divisive American president, who himself has been compared to a monarch, threatens to further divide Americans concerning the British royals.—
Karissa Waddick,
USA Today,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Describing this photo, documentary photographer Chantal Pinzi says that Ghita Jhaite's horse was agitated after a confrontation with other stallions that caused the rider to fall.—
Kamala Thiagarajan,
NPR,
26 Apr. 2026
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Submerge the jacket and gently agitate the water with your hands to loosen dirt.—
Katie Cloyd,
Martha Stewart,
22 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unsettle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unsettle. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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