disturbance

1. 1.

   activity that is a malfunction, intrusion, or interruption

   “the term `distress' connotes some degree of perturbation and emotional upset”

   “he looked around for the source of the disturbance”

   “there was a disturbance of neural function”

   Synonymsperturbation

   Broaderactivity

   Narrowerfussmagnetic storm
2. 2.

   an unhappy and worried mental state

   “there was too much anger and disturbance”

   “she didn't realize the upset she caused me”

   Synonymsperturbationupset

   Broaderagitation
3. 3.

   a disorderly outburst or tumult

   “they were amazed by the furious disturbance they had caused”

   Synonymsdisruptioncommotionflutterhurly burlyto-dohoo-hahoo-hahkerfuffle

   Broaderdisorder

   Narrowerconvulsionearthquakeincidentstirstormstorm centertumult
4. 4.

   a noisy fight

   Synonymsaffrayfrayruffle

   Broaderfight
5. 5.

   the act of disturbing something or someone; setting something in motion

   Broadermotion

   Narrowercircusdisorganizationdisruptioncommotionfurorhavocmeleeagitationoutburstrampage
6. 6.

   (psychiatry) a psychological disorder of thought or emotion; a more neutral term than mental illness

   Synonymsmental disordermental disturbancepsychological disorderfolie

   Broaderdisorder

   NarrowerAsperger's syndromeanxiety disorderpsychosomatic disorderaberrationconversion disorderdeliriumdelusional disorderencopresisfolie a deuxpersonality disorder

   psychiatry

7. 7.

   electrical or acoustic activity that can disturb communication

   Synonymsnoiseinterference

   Broadertrouble

   Narrowerclutterbackgroundcrosstalkfadeoutjitterstaticwhite noise

Other forms of disturbance

plural

disturbances·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about disturbance

What does disturbance mean?

disturbance means "activity that is a malfunction, intrusion, or interruption". That is the primary sense; the word has 7 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in disturbance?

disturbance has 3 syllables: di-stur-bance. The stress falls on "stur". In IPA it is /dɪˈstɝbəns/.

What is another word for disturbance?

Close synonyms include perturbation, perturbation, upset, disruption, commotion. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is disturbance a common word?

disturbance is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.