disconnectedadj.
/ˌdɪskəˈnɛktᵻd/, U.S. /ˌdɪskəˈnɛktəd/ 1. † b. Without family connections of good social standing; not well connected. Obsolete. rare.
a. Having no connection or association; unconnected, separate; detached. In predicative use frequently with with, from.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > [adjective] > disjoining or disconnecting > not joined, united, or connected
uncoupled1377
unjoined1538
unclosed1551
unknitting1587
ununited1587
unknit1603
incommunicated1646
discontiguous1656
incontiguous1660
open1686
inconnected1742
disconnected1751
incoherent1768
uncemented1783
unconnected1829
disaffiliated1839
disconnect1845
inarticulate1852
unarticulated1861
ununified1862
1751 J. Roche Moravian Heresy v. 231 Belching, out a Parcel of frothy disconnected Phrases and Prayers.
1752 T. Pownall Princ. Polity ii. 95 It is essential to the Preservation of the Empire to keep them disconnected and independent of each other.
1783 H. Blair Lect. Rhetoric I. xv. 316 An Allegory is, or may be, allowed to stand more disconnected with the literal meaning.
1799 H. More Strict. Mod. Syst. Fem. Educ. (ed. 4) I. 177 The chronology being reduced to disconnected dates, instead of presenting an unbroken series.
1831 Westm. Rev. 14 51 An inland sea, totally disconnected from the ocean.
1872 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds 162 Ravens, with throat-feathers acute, lengthened, disconnected.
1890 Jrnl. Jurispr. 34 493 The water flowed over into the disconnected pipe, and thence into the holds.
1928 Sunday Express 29 Apr. 4 ‘Piccadilly’, Arnold Bennett's original story.., is said to be not wholly disconnected with his novel ‘The Pretty Lady’.
1978 N.Y. Mag. 13 Feb. 40/1 The life-style is largely Old World and peaceful, disconnected from the problems of the rest of Park Slope.
2011 Independent 13 Oct. 41/5 A 22-mile former loopline railway acts as an eco-friendly orbital route..linking previously disconnected parts of the city.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > low rank or condition > lowness of birth > [adjective]
low-bornc1275
ungentlec1374
unnoblea1382
bastardly1552
baseborn1553
ingenerous1621
lowly born1623
earth-born1630
unpedigreed1787
birthless1817
unaristocratic1841
disconnected1847
pedigreeless1859
1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre II. i. 18 A Governess, disconnected, poor, and plain.
c. Of an electrical device, telephone, etc.: that has been disconnected (disconnect v. 2b, 2c).
ΚΠ
1881 Jrnl. Soc. Telegr. Engineers & Electricians 10 27 The following experiments have reference principally to the effect produced by connecting condensers to the disconnected telephone.
1918 A. Latzko Men in War ii. 100 He saw..the disconnected telephone at the entrance.
1938 Altoona (Pa.) Mirror 13 July 3/5 Mrs. Hazel was seated near the disconnected radio when the lightning struck a tree in the backyard of her home.
1984 Operator's Instr. 40-ton Crane (U.S. Dept. Army) 2-6/2 Engine could not run with dead or disconnected battery unless circuit was completed around battery.
1990 Independent (Nexis) 10 Feb. 46 At the tourist information office, a sign on top of a disconnected television promised the video, Wiltshire: A Timeless Enigma.
2008 W. Panek et al. MCTS ix. 463 After the download is complete, you can export the updates and then import the updates to the disconnected network.
d. Of a person or group: detached from society, reality, etc.; isolated; disengaged.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > one > condition of being alone > [adjective] > isolated
solec1407
lonely1645
lone1668
isolated1763
apart1786
isolate1819
shut-out1853
disconnected1919
1919 Proc. Ann. Congr. Amer. Prison Assoc. 418 A delinquent girl is apt to feel disconnected since she has failed to acknowledge her responsibilities to anyone.
1922 J. Addams Peace & Bread in Time of War ii. 38 The men confessed..that they had longed for the feel of tools in their hands, that they had felt disconnected and unhappy.
1961 Town Planning Rev. 32 84/2 Lonely, socially disconnected people staring suspiciously and enviously at their neighbours.
1985 Phi Delta Kappan 67 251/3 Call on policy makers..to focus imaginatively and boldly on the problems of disconnected youth.
2008 C. R. Jenkins & J. Frederick Reluctant Communist iii. 34 I came away from that first meeting shaking my head at what a strange, simple, and disconnected man he was.
2. Having the constituent parts badly connected; without logical connection. Also: (of a speaker or writer) incoherent, rambling.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [adjective] > disconnected
unjointed1588
disjointed1593
checkie-wise1603
rambling1632
loose1638
unconnexed1716
disconnected1777
snipped1806
dot and go one1818
spasmodic1832
spotty1843
snippety1864
rantipole1866
splathering1929
1777 W. Robertson Hist. Amer. II. 446 If..the arrangement of events in his work had not been rendered so perplexed, disconnected, and obscure, [etc.].
1802 Monthly Rev. 37 463 As in describing so disconnected and multifarious a work as the one before us, it is difficult and perhaps useless to preserve any order.
1868 Musical Standard 24 Oct. 161/1 The harmony..is sufficiently disconnected and unpleasant to satisfy the most liberal minded of discord-mongers.
1870 J. R. Lowell My Study Windows (1886) 157 He [sc. a lecturer] was disconnected.
1870 Daily News 10 Oct. 2/2 The plot is complicated and disconnected.
1942 Billboard 7 Mar. 9/3 It is a dull, disconnected, hopelessly episodic and frequently silly discussion.
2002 B. McGuinness Approaches to Wittgenstein xxii. 255 The slips in their original date and order, where known, would have produced a rather disconnected text.
Derivatives
discoˈnnectedly adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > [adverb] > in a disjoined or disconnected manner
disjoinedly?a1560
distractedly1608
disjointly1634
disjunctly1649
disconnectedly1807
unconnectedly1816
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [adverb] > disconnectedly
disjointly1621
ramblinglya1641
unconnectedly1778
disconnectedly1807
disjointedly1869
zigzaggedly1921
1807 Pittsburgh Gaz. 4 Aug. 2/1 One or two expressions..are considered disconnectedly with what precedes and follows.
1864 Athenæum No. 1920. 215/3 Accomplished disconnectedly during growth.
1949 D. Thomas Let. 2 Nov. (1987) 724 All I could do was to talk, disconnectedly, about myself.
2009 Weekend Austral. (Nexis) 7 Nov. 10 A ‘bewildering array of..governmental and semi-official bodies working disconnectedly or even at cross-purposes’.
discoˈnnectedness n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [noun] > disconnectedness
inconnection1620
disjointedness1655
desultoriness1661
unconnection1766
disconnection1815
disconnectedness1823
snippetiness1878
1823 L. T. Berguer in Brit. Essayists 1 Pref. p. xvi So many abrupt transitions..gave the paper a character of disconnectedness and superficiality.
1880 Pop. Sci. Monthly Jan. 291 The rescue of meteorological researches from that disorder and disconnectedness which had always characterized the observational work.
1925 M. Sturt Psychol. Time v. 104 It is possible that it is not only the number but the disconnectedness of mental events which affects the judgment of duration.
2012 Bournemouth Echo (Nexis) 18 May Being incapable of expressing yourself emotionally..leads to disconnectedness and depression.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1751