Word of the day! 9-16-08

Today's Word
disconcert \dis-kuhn-SURT\, transitive verb:1. To disturb the composure of.2. To throw into disorder or confusion; as, "the emperor disconcerted the plans of his enemy."

"In steering a small boat before a heavy gale, don't look back -- it may disconcert you.-- Frank Arthur Worsley, Shackleton's Boat Journey
I wander away, disconcerted by this sudden sense of having been cut short, frozen in mid-flow.-- Paul Golding, The Abomination

"They were disconcerted each time they saw him change from one evening to the next from a dramatic role to a comic one, from the part of a good man to that of the villain, as if he were thereby revealing some incomprehensible mutability in his being; but every time, after just a few lines, they would become wholly engrossed in the new fiction, convincing themselves that this was just how he was.-- Paola Capriolo, The Woman Watching

Disconcert is derived from Old French desconcerter, from des-, "dis-" + concerter, from Old Italian concertare, "to act together, to agree."