discomfiture
/dɪsˈkʌmfɪtʃə(ɹ)/
"discomfiture" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“discomfiture” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Defeat in battle.
Corpus desk
Index EN-discomfiture · discomfiture · English
discomfiture · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | discomfiture |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dɪsˈkʌmfɪtʃə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “discomfiture” in English
Rare enough to double-check
discomfiture is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /dɪsˈkʌmfɪtʃə(ɹ)/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for discomfiture in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French desconfiture (“rout, defeat”); compare French déconfiture. The correct English form is discomfiture, spelled D-I-S-C-O-M-F-I-T-U-R-E.
Definition
- 1Defeat in battle.
- 2An emotional state similar to that arising from defeat; frustration, disappointment, perplexity or embarrassment.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how discomfiture appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
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…
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.
Etymology
From Old French desconfiture (“rout, defeat”); compare French déconfiture.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.