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disarray

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A lack of array or regular order.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dihseray

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

dɪsɚˈeɪ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A lack of array or regular order; disorder; confusion.

  2. Confused attire; undress; dishabille.

verb

  1. Bring disorder to

  2. transitive

    To throw into disorder; to break the array of.

  3. transitive

    To take off the dress of; to unrobe.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Rare
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A lack of array or regular order; disorder; confusion.

Used this way, disarray is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Medicine/healthcare
  • Science
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

total disarraycomplete disarraysome disarraypolitical disarraywild disarrayconsiderable disarrayeconomic disarraygeneral disarray

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: lack of array or regular order

confusion

Antonyms

Sense: lack of array or regular order

order

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.