Part of speech:

Verb, the transitive kind: "The noise discombobulated her;" "I was discombobulated by the noise."

Other forms: 

Discombobulated, discombobulating, discombobulation.

Just looking at the word "discombobulate," you'd figure that the opposite is "combobulate," right? That word doesn't appear in dictionaries, which makes sense because "discombobulate" is a silly invention, not really a Latin-based word with a meaningful prefix and base. But feel free to use "combobulate" playfully anyway, along with any other playful forms you'd like to invent, especially if you use the regular form first to help orient your reader. Let's make some examples: "That music video from the early 90's really discombobulated me, but to be fair, the early 90's weren't all that combobulated to begin with." "For a second I was discombobulated. I had to recombobulate myself in a hurry."

When you need to strike a lighthearted tone as you describe someone's frazzled state of confusion, rather than picking a formal word like "perplex," "discomfit," or "disconcert," pick the fun, goofy word "discombobulate."

Talk about people getting discombobulated by weird, confusing, unexpected events, statements, and situations. "She wasn't joking, so their laughter discombobulated her." "Discombobulated by the sudden turn of events, he blushed and stammered."

Although we usually say that people are discombobulated, we can also say that their thoughts, their hopes, their expectations and so on are discombobulated, or all mixed-up and thrown off. We can even get figurative and talk about discombobulated objects, places, and ideas, if they seem all chaotic and jumbled up.

examples:

"Back then he couldn't even pack a suitcase for himself, as discombobulated as his thoughts were."
   — Steven David Justin Sills, Tokyo to Tijuana: Gabriele Departing America, 2012

"When she found herself staring up at an 18ft billboard of herself in Times Square advertising the run she was about to star in, it was a discombobulating experience."
   — Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian, 15 July 2018

has this page helped you understand "discombobulate"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "discombobulate" without saying "throw for a loop" or "fluster."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Some totally bizarre book, show, movie, video, advertisement, song, album, performance, or other creation) makes for discombobulating (reading, viewing, or listening)."

Example: "Fans reacted negatively to odd costume changes... what was with the confusingly located tails? ...The Cats trailer makes for discombobulating viewing."
   — Sirin Kale, The Guardian, 25 July 2019

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for June is "Happy Stories in Hidden Cities."

I'll give you a sentence from a happy news story, along with a long word that contains all the letters, in order, of the name of the city in which the story takes place. And you give me the city.

Here's an example:

"A puppy was excited to experience his first-ever snowfall on Friday, November 11, after a winter storm swept through the area." FARRAGO.

The answer here is "Fargo," the city where this story takes place. You can spot the name FARGO inside FARRAGO.

Try this one today:

"The [local] Metro stations are being turned into art museums to display artworks and creations from different themes and cultures, by order of the city's royal sheikh." ADUMBRATION.  

To see the answer, scroll all the way down!

review this word:

1. As we've seen, the precise opposite of DISCOMBOBULATE would be the playful nonce word COMBOBULATE. But a pretty close opposite of DISCOMBOBULATE could be

A. SINK.
B. TANGLE.
C. ORIENT.

2. It's become a meme: John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, looking discombobulated, _____.

A. standing awkwardly, glancing from left to right, wondering where he's supposed to hang up his coat, with no coat rack in sight
B. dominating the dance floor, wearing a sharp suit and tie, hair slicked back, keeping pace with Uma Thurman
C. shoulder to shoulder with Samuel L. Jackson, looking fierce, lips pursed and eyebrows furrowed, pointing a weapon

Answers to the review questions: 1. C 2. A Answer to the game question: This story takes place in Dubai, whose name you can spot inside ADUMBRATION.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.