unsoothe

English

Etymology

un- +‎ soothe

Verb

unsoothe (third-person singular simple present unsoothes, present participle unsoothing, simple past and past participle unsoothed)

1. (transitive) To disturb; to unsettle; to arouse or irritate from a calm state.
   • 1952, Gayelord Hauser, Be Happier, Be Healthier, page 142:

     Take out your ire on the unneighborly generators of noises that unsoothe the nerves.

   • 2006, Roger Scruton, News from Somewhere: On Settling, →ISBN, page 138:

     Now it is overlooked by instructions, thrown out with the visual equivalent of a sergeant-major's bark, designed not to harmonize but to be dissonant, to abolish tranquillity, and to unsoothe and unsettle the soul.

   • 2012, Sandra Hill, Santa Viking, →ISBN:

     And don't you just love the image of a tall mountain of a man using his big hands to soothe a child . . . or unsoothe a woman?

Anagrams

• outshone