unnerving

Making one uneasy

Unnerving describes something that disturbs your composure or shakes your confidence.

An unnerving silence, an unnerving stare, an unnerving calm before bad news.

The word suggests a creeping disquiet rather than outright fear—something that gets under your skin and unsettles you: There was something unnerving about how well he knew my habits.

fearful

unsettling

Causing unease or discomfort

disturbingCausing mental unease
disquietingCausing unease or worry
frighteningInspiring terror or alarm

alarming · dreadful · scary · chilling · sinister · ominous · eerie · spooky · creepy · macabre

disconcerting

jarring

Disturbingly incongruous

disorientingCausing loss of direction
confusingCausing mental uncertainty
perplexingCausing mental confusion

baffling · bewildering · discomfiting · troubling · upsetting · dismaying · startling · shocking · off-putting · destabilizing

tense

anxious

Troubled by uncertainty

edgyTense and irritable
jitteryAnxiously restless
on-edgeTense and uneasy

apprehensive · uneasy · restless · fidgety · agitated · stressed · strained · overwrought · high-strung · twitchy

unnerving

unsettling

jarring

anxious

unnerving

Opposites

Categories

Family