Disturb: When It Means Interrupt and When It Means Alarm
To disturb is to unsettle something that was calm. It can be as small as knocking on a door and as large as news that keeps you awake.
Disturb works on two scales. Knock on a door and you disturb someone for a moment. Read something upsetting and it disturbs you for days. The word is built on the Latin for a crowd in commotion, which fits both: a quiet thing has had a crowd let into it.
- To interrupt someone. *Sorry to disturb you.*
- To worry or upset. *The report disturbed her deeply.*
- To move something from its place. *Do not disturb the soil around the roots.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | disturb | Do not disturb. |
| Past | disturbed | He was disturbed by the noise. |
| Noun | disturbance | A disturbance in the street. |
| Adjective | disturbing | Disturbing images. |
| Adjective | undisturbed | The nest was undisturbed. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Hang the sign out if you do not want to be disturbed.The hotel phrase everyone knows.
- It disturbs me that nobody checked.Here the feeling is worry, not interruption.
- Police were called to a disturbance outside the pub.A disturbance, in police language, is public disorder.
Disturbing or disturbed?
- Disturbing — describes the thing that upsets (*a disturbing film*)
- Disturbed — describes the person upset (*I was disturbed by it*)
- Disturbed — also used, more heavily, of serious mental distress
- Disturbance — the event, or a change in a natural system
- Undisturbed — left completely alone, a compliment in archaeology
From Old French *destorber*, from Latin *disturbare*, to throw into disorder, from *dis* (completely) and *turba*, a crowd or uproar. The same *turba* stands behind *turbulent*, *turbine* and, through French, *trouble*.
Is *disturbed* offensive when used of a person?
It can be. Describing someone as disturbed to mean mentally ill is blunt and often unkind; naming the actual condition, or saying someone is distressed, is better.
Disturb or bother?
Bother is lighter and more informal. Disturb suits interruptions of quiet, work or sleep, and it is the word on the hotel sign.