The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - disturb v.

1) interrupt, disrupt, intrude (on) , inconvenience, put out, interfere (with) ; bother, pester, annoy, irritate, irk, upset, plague, hector, harry, harass, worry, vex, provoke, pique, peeve, get on (someone's) nerves, Colloq bug, miff, get under (someone's) skin, get in (someone's) hair, drive nuts or crazy or bats or batty or bananas or up the wall, hassle: The sound of dripping water disturbed me. Please do not disturb the animals. 2) agitate, stir or churn (up) , shake (up) , unsettle, roil, disorder: The lake's surface was violently disturbed by an enormous creature. 3) unsettle, affect, upset, damage, harm, destroy: We put the delicate mechanism where it wouldn't be disturbed by curious visitors. 4) trouble, disconcert, discomfit, perturb, ruffle, fluster, upset, agitate, put off, bother, discommode, put out, unsettle, distress; alarm, Colloq shake (up) : He was greatly disturbed by the death of his father. 5) affect, upset, confound, confuse, change, put off, ruin, destroy, cancel, make ineffectual or ineffective, negate: Any change in temperature will disturb the results of the experiment.