English

Verb

discomfit ‎(third-person singular simple present discomfits, present participle discomfiting, simple past and past participle discomfited)

1. (archaic) To defeat completely; to rout.
   • 1611, Bible: King James Version, Exodus 17:13,

     And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

   • Edmund Spenser

     And his proud foes discomfit in victorious field.

2. To defeat the plans or hopes of; to frustrate.
   • 1886, Andrew Lang The Mark Of Cain, chapter 10,

     In these disguises, Maitland argued, he would certainly avoid recognition, and so discomfit any mischief planned by the enemies of Margaret.

3. (proscribed) To embarrass greatly; to confuse; to perplex; to disconcert.
   • 1853, Charlotte Brontë, Villette, chapter 20,

     She is a pretty, silly girl: but are you apprehensive that her titter will discomfit the old lady?

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.

Usage notes

While widely used to mean “to embarrass, to disconcert”, prescriptive usage considers this a mistake (confusion with discomfort), and restrict discomfit to meaning “to defeat”.^[2]

Synonyms

• (defeat; rout): overthrow, vanquish
• (frustrate): foil, thwart
• (embarrass; confuse): abash, disconcert
• See also Wikisaurus:abash

Translations

See also

• discomfort

Adjective

discomfit ‎(comparative more discomfit, superlative most discomfit)

1. (obsolete) discomfited; overthrown

References

1. ↑ “discomfit” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.
2. ↑ “Discomfit zone”, January 4, 2008, Grammarphobia