Discombobulate

Discombobulate (pronounced dis-kuhm-bob-yuh-leyt)

To confuse or disconcert; upset; frustrate.

The most frequently used derived forms appear to be the verbs (used with object), discombobulated & discombobulating.  Discombobulation is the noun and discombobulated the adjective.

1834: An Americanism, one of a number of fanciful creations which were coined during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, mostly mock-Latin, discombobulate presumably a whimsical alteration of a blend of discompose or discomfit, the implied meaning “to confuse; to frustrate”.  It was an alteration of the equally fake discombobricate & discombobracated, first attested in the early 1800s and driven extinct by its usurper; the other spellings from the era (discombulate & discomboberate) never gained traction and etymologists assume discombobulate prevailed because it offered the easier pronunciation.  The US school of mock-Latin and other creations, believed associated with students at the better universities of the era, included confusticate (confound & confuse), absquatulate (run away; make off), spifflicate (confound; beat), scrumplicate (eat), bloviate (to speak or discourse at length in a pompous or boastful manner) & blustrification (the act of celebrating boisterously).

Lindsay Lohan looking discombobulated, New York City, 2014.  The bag is Givenchy’s Disney-inspired Antigona Bambi tote bag from Riccardo Tisci’s Autumn-Winter 2013 collection.

Because the English vocabulary offers so many easy ways to say much the same thing as the five-syllable discombobulate (befuddle, bewilder, confound, disconcert, fluster, addle, baffle, disturb, frustrate, fuddle, muddle, perplex, puzzle, ruffle, throw, upset, mix up et al), all became more popular.  Discombobulate was rare and indeed sometimes listed as extinct until revived in the early twenty-first century when it became a frequent addition to the lists of interesting, neglected or bizarre words which flourished as the world wide web gained the internet a critical mass, the American Dialect Society in 2009 naming it the most creative word of the year which might not have been the most appropriate category given the creation dated from 1834 but one could see what they meant.  Since, it’s found a niche, perhaps helped by the age of pandemic to which it seems well-suited.

Recombobulation Area, Mitchell Airport terminal, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

It hasn’t (yet) spawned derivatives; there’s no indication the happily contented are describing themselves as “combobulated” any more than they self-label as "gruntled" but for some years Mitchell airport in Milwaukee has provided in the terminal, a “Recombobulation Area” where passengers can gather their thoughts and recover from whatever ghastly experience they’ve just suffered.  Given the nature of modern air travel, it seems a good idea.