discombobulate
dis·com·bob·u·late/ˌdɪs.kəmˈbɒb.jəˌleɪt/verb
discombobulate is spelled D-I-S-C-O-M-B-O-B-U-L-A-T-E: 14 letters and 5 syllables (dis·com·bob·u·late). It appears about once in every 56 million words in written English, the 234,209th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, discombobulate means “To throw into a state of confusion; to befuddle or perplex” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in discombobulate?
| Letters | 14: D-I-S-C-O-M-B-O-B-U-L-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5: dis·com·bob·u·late |
| In writing | about once in every 56 million words; the 234,209th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is discombobulate?
Discombobulate appears about once in every 56 million words in written English, the 234,209th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce discombobulate?
- /ˌdɪs.kəmˈbɒb.jəˌleɪt/
Discombobulate has 5 syllables, split dis·com·bob·u·late in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-discombobulate.ogg, En-au-discombobulate.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-discombobulate.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of discombobulate
- discombobulates present, singular, he/she/it
- discombobulating participle, present
- discombobulated participle, past
- discomboberate
- discombulate
- discombobricate
- discombooberate
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does discombobulate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To throw into a state of confusion; to befuddle or perplex.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does discombobulate come from?
Fanciful variant of discompose, discomfit, etc., originally discombobricate. The -bob- interfix may come from bobbery, meaning “commotion, noise”. First attested in 1834 in the United States.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).