disturbance

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English destourbaunce, also disturbaunce,^[2] borrowed from Old French destorbance, also destourbance,^[3][2][4][5] formed from destorber (“to disturb”), also destourber, with -ance.^[3][2][6][5] The Anglo-Norman desturbance is recorded from the early 13th century, with senses ranging from confusion and disorder to hindrance and legal obstruction.^[7] The Old French verb, the source of disturb, is from Latin disturbō (“to throw into disorder”), from dis- and turbō (“to disorder, disturb”), from turba (“turmoil, confusion”).^[4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The breaking of peace, rest or a settled condition, and a breach of the public peace: 1297, in Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle.^[3] Etymonline gives "mental distress, grief" as the first sense, in the late 13th century.^[4] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1250–1300.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Early uses covered both upheaval in the world and agitation of the mind: the mental sense is in John Trevisa before 1387,^[3] and Gower used the word in 1393 for interference with the course of an action.^[3] Etymonline dates "public disturbance, political agitation" to about 1300 and the phrase disturbance of the peace to the early 15th century.^[4] From 1598 it was a legal term for hindering a person in the enjoyment of a right, such as a franchise or an easement.^[3][2][10] Johnson (1755) defined it as "perplexity; interruption of tranquillity" and "confusion; disorder".^[11] Modern technical senses include a minor earth movement in geology, a small depression in meteorology and, in psychiatry, an emotional or psychological problem.^[10] In American slang of the 1890s disturbance was a jocular word for liquor.^[12]

Timeline

• 1297 – interruption of peace or settled order; a breach of the public peace.^[3]
• before 1387 – mental agitation.^[3]
• 1393 – interference with an action or process.^[3]
• 1598 – in law, interference with a person's rights.^[3]
• 1898 – U.S. slang, liquor.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of disturbing, or the state of being disturbed.^[10][2]
2. An interruption or intrusion: Please work without any disturbance to the other guests.^[10][2]
3. An outbreak of disorder; a tumult or breach of the public peace: Police were called to a disturbance outside the stadium.^[10][3]
4. Agitation of the mind or feelings; in psychiatry, a psychological or emotional problem.^[2][10][3]
5. In law, interference with another person's lawful enjoyment of a right.^[10][2][3]
6. In geology, a minor movement of the earth, causing a small earthquake or a minor mountain-building event.^[10]
7. In meteorology, a small depression.^[10]

Word family

• nondisturbance
• predisturbance

Related words

• disturb
• perturb
• turbid
• turbulent

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com