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prettygoodword ([personal profile] prettygoodword) wrote2018-01-10 07:43 am

discombobulate

discombobulate (dis-kum-BOB-yuh-lait) - v., to throw into a state of confusion, disconcert, befuddle.


Coined in the 1830s, apparently from disconcert or discompose. Other early forms included discombobricate, discomboberate, and discombobracate -- I'm not clear on when -bobulate was settled on as the standard form.

---L.