discomfiture
/dɪsˈkʌmfɪtʃə(ɹ)/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.63 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
4
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An emotional state similar to that arising from defeat; frustration, disappointment, perplexity or embarrassment.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Some of us are concerned because as yet the South shows no penitence. But what exactly do we mean by this? Since down to the close of the war she never confessed any for braving it, the only penitence now left her is that which springs solely from the sense of discomfiture; and since this evidently would be a contrition hypocritical, it would be unworthy in us to demand it."
- "One of them ended its career as a passenger carrying vehicle in 1907, by freezing in Kemp Town Tunnel, to the discomfiture of some important season ticket holders, who did not hesitate to let the directors know what they thought about the incident."
- "Other countries are not so much angry as avid to exploit the discomfiture of the US or the chaos in the region or both."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
- Root: desconfiture
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /dɪsˈkʌmfɪtʃə(ɹ)/