disarray

verb, noun — 4 senses

disarray

verb

UK /dɪsəˈɹeɪ/

Etymology From Middle English disareyen (“to disarray”), from Middle French desarroyer, from Old French desareer, from des- (“dis-”) + areer (“to array”).

1

To throw into disorder; to break the array of.

  • Who with fiery steeds / Oft disarray'd the foes in battle ranged.1726, Elijah Fenton, Odyssey:
2

To take off the dress of; to unrobe.

  • So as she bad, that witch they disaraid1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 46:
Antonyms
array
Derived terms
disarrayment

disarray

noun

Etymology From Middle English disareyen (“to disarray”), from Middle French desarroyer, from Old French desareer, from des- (“dis-”) + areer (“to array”).

1

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

  • So, in order to apply a good medicine to the hurt parts of the wildish psyche, in order to aright relationship to the archetype of the Wild Woman, one has to name the disarrays of the psyche accurately.1992, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run with the Wolves, Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, page 9:
  • Tottenham pushed forward in an attempt to complete the recovery - but only succeeded in leaving themselves wide open to Chelsea's attacks and Redknapp's side ended in total disarray.2012 April 15, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea”, in BBC:
1 more example
  • On leaving the train at Piccadilly, everything goes 'Pete Tong'. Services are in complete disarray, as a tree has come down onto the line at Gatley.2024 October 30, Paul Bigland, “The heat is on... and will the railway fray”, in RAIL, number 1021, page 46:
2

Confused attire; undress; dishabille.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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