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discomfit

verb /dɪsˈkʌmfɪt/

  1. To embarrass (someone) greatly; to confuse; to perplex; to disconcert.

    transitive

    Don't worry. Your joke did not really discomfit me.

  2. To defeat the plans or hopes of; to frustrate; disconcert.

    rare, transitive

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

  3. To defeat completely; to rout.

    archaic, transitive

    Claudius therefore leauing this Ile, paſſed into Pomonia the chiefeſt of all the Orkenies, where diſcomfiting ſuch as appeared abroad to make reſiſtance, he beſieged the king of thoſe Iles named Ganus, within a caſtell where he was withdrawen, [...]

Where it comes from

From Middle English discomfiten, from Old French desconfit, past participle of desconfire (“to undo, to destroy”), from des- (“completely”), from Latin dis- + Old French confire (“to make”), from Latin cōnficiō (“to finish up, to destroy”), from com- (“with, together”) + faciō (“to do, to make”). Later sense of “to embarrass, to disconcert” due to confusion with unrelated discomfort.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry discomfit (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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