dishevelled

• disheveled

From earlier dishevely, from Old French deschevelé (modern French déchevelé and échevelé), from des- (“dis-”), + chevel (“hair”) (modern French cheveu).

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈʃɛvəld/, /dɪsˈʃɛvəld/

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dishevelled (comparative more dishevelled, superlative most dishevelled)

a dishevelled man

1. (of a person) With the hair uncombed.

   Synonyms: messy, scraggly, tousled, unkempt, untidy

2. (by extension) Disorderly or untidy in appearance.

   Synonym: untidy

   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 6, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎:

     The men resided in a huge bunk house, which consisted of one room only, with a shack outside where the cooking was done. In the large room were a dozen bunks ; half of them in a very dishevelled state, […]

   • 2018 August 31, Peter Bradshaw, “The Other Side of the Wind review – lost Orson Welles epic is hurricane of anger and wit”, in The Guardian‎:

     This is a crazy, dishevelled, often hilarious film, in which lightning flashes of wit and insight crackle periodically across a plane of tedium. I sometimes felt I was watching the 100-hour version.

dishevelled

1. simple past and past participle of dishevel