as in disturbing
causing worry or anxiety
the constant arguing is upsetting to a sensitive person like your grandmother
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in alarming
to trouble the mind of; to make uneasy
the smallest things can upset us if we're already stressed
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in overturning
to turn on one's side or upside down
the narrow boat upsets easily and should be handled with care
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in disrupting
to undo the proper order or arrangement of
the change in the bus schedule upset our daily routine
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of upsetting
Lindsay Lee Wallace, TIME, 18 Oct. 2024
Lanier rapes Forsythe during a job interview, which O’Brien recounts in upsetting, unwavering detail.
—Jared Sullivan, The Atlantic, 17 Oct. 2024
Deborah Martin, San Antonio Express-News, 30 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for upsetting 
Adjective
Their stories ranged from unsettling to upsetting—and many of them seemed to circle back to the same person.
—Lindsay Lee Wallace, TIME, 18 Oct. 2024
Lanier rapes Forsythe during a job interview, which O’Brien recounts in upsetting, unwavering detail.
—Jared Sullivan, The Atlantic, 17 Oct. 2024
Verb
Co-owner Simon Madera said when Hooper’s was being renovated, the team aimed to strike a balance between celebrating the house’s connection to film history and not upsetting those who are just looking to have a good meal.
—Deborah Martin, San Antonio Express-News, 30 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for upsetting
Recent Examples of Synonyms for upsetting
Adjective
-
The issue is complicated by the fact that those on X likely see Musk's posts with almost disturbing regularity.Peter Suciu, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024
-
Hammer’s talent agency, WME, drops him. March 11, 2021: Vanity Fair publishes a bizarre bombshell article on the Hammer family, outlining Hammer’s upbringing in the Cayman Islands and revealing multiple disturbing details about his relatives.Lydia Wang, Vulture, 1 Nov. 2024
Verb
-
Both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries have successfully achieved standoff through the use of artillery firepower coupled with drone strikes, effectively disrupting their adversary’s offensive operations.Vikram Mittal, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024
-
The 50,000 members of the union working at ports from Maine to Texas have been on strike since early Tuesday morning, halting the flow of the majority of containerized imports into the United States, along with many of the exports, disrupting the sales of American businesses overseas.Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, 3 Oct. 2024
Adjective
-
The great director Hiro Murai collaborated with Glover on one of the most unsettling half-hours of TV in the 2010s, an experience that unfolded without commercial breaks.Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2024
-
The only person who sees what’s disturbing about her is her daughter, Eva, and very soon all will see what is unsettling about her, too.Joe Otterson, Variety, 25 Oct. 2024
Verb
-
This also avoids a brightness instability problem that can afflict the TV’s Standard mode, where the image suffers distracting brightness ‘jumps’ or ‘drops’ when an HDR image cuts abruptly between bright and dark shots.John Archer, Forbes, 20 Oct. 2024
-
The boy’s life is organized around distracting himself, especially since his mother (Jodie Whittaker) works long days and nights as a nurse.Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Oct. 2024
Adjective
-
Blowing late-game leads had become a troubling trend for the Clippers this season, which pushed their first five games down to the wire.Janis Carr, Orange County Register, 6 Nov. 2024
-
Rising Arrests Amidst Tensions Woodland's situation is emblematic of a troubling trend: the increasing arrest of American citizens in Russia while relations between Moscow and Washington reach post-Cold War lows.Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2024
Verb
-
Is the trend of sales taking a route that is bothering you?Hitendra Patil, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2024
-
In many cases, states have stopped bothering to make legal justifications at all, the Human Rights Committee report warned.Anna Mulrine Grobe, The Christian Science Monitor, 15 Oct. 2024
Verb
-
However, a 57-year-old male runner died Sunday after collapsing near the fifth mile of the marathon.Amy Huschka, Detroit Free Press, 21 Oct. 2024
-
The plans ended up collapsing anyway, even before his vertebrae did.Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 15 Oct. 2024
Verb
-
Honorable Mentions My Top Five stays the same as my recent mid-September update, but there was shuffling from #6-10 down the home stretch.Tony Blengino, Forbes, 2 Oct. 2024
-
Meanwhile, storm survivors were still scrounging for food and clean water and shuffling from shelter to shelter three days after Helene first made landfall in Florida.Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 1 Oct. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near upsetting
Cite this Entry
“Upsetting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/upsetting. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share