The Collaborative International Dictionary
disheveled \di*shev"eled\, dishevelled \di*shev"elled\, a.
Hanging in loose disorder; disarranged; in disarray; not made neat; -- used especially of hair or clothing; as, disheveled hair.
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Having the hair in loose disorder.
The dancing maidens are disheveled M[ae]nads.
--J. A. Symonds.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
also dishevelled, early 15c., "without dressed hair," parallel form of dishevel (adj.); see dishevel. General sense of "with disordered dress" is from c.1600.
Wiktionary
(alternative form of dishevelled English) v
(en-past of: dishevel)
WordNet
adj. in disarray; extremely disorderly; "her clothing was disheveled"; "powder-smeared and frowzled"; "a rumpled unmade bed"; "a bed with tousled sheets"; "his brown hair was tousled, thick, and curly"- Al Spiers [syn: dishevelled, frowzled, rumpled, tousled]
Usage examples of "disheveled".
A dusty, disheveled guy whose sandy crew cut even looked rumpled, he was always with his close friend and fellow Arkansan Captain Morris.
Breathless from the dance, her hair as disheveled as a genuine bacchante, Messalina screamed with delight and shook the ivy-twined staff of Bacchus.
Dirty and disheveled, burrs sticking in her hair, she limped to The Forks, turned in at the gate, and made her way up the drive.
The local taxi, a long station wagon with rocket-age fins and writing on its side, dropped off Ginger and Betsy and their gypsyish and disheveled bundles and satchels in a confusion of lamplight and opening doors and asking and answering voices.
Heln, disheveled hair hanging uncombed, worn housedress askew, eyes puffed almost as though from crying, was far from appetizing.
On its long back sat Daniel, hunched forward, capless, his disheveled gray hair hanging over his flushed, perspiring face.
The dash up the steps of Beau Repos left them all damp, disheveled, and completely out of sorts, a condition Caroline credited with saving her from the summons from Madame she had expected.
He brushed her lips gently with his before he rearranged their disheveled clothing and led her back to the house.
He brushed back her disheveled hair and looked at her with eyes that were tender and possessive.
I could see the early light glint copper off his hair, which lay tumbled loose over his shoulders, disheveled as though he had just risen from his bed.
They were what might be generously called sportily disheveled, and I found it more amusing than anything else.
Akeela waited patiently until finally the door opened, revealing Beith in a disheveled robe and unkempt hair, her red eyes rimmed with sunken bags.
Gray-faced, baggy-eyed, fluffily disheveled in a scanty balding way, but still perfectly recognizable, he swept by me in a purple bathrobe, very like one I had.
George Bannister and her housekeeper Tina spoke of witnessing, from a kitchen pantry at the rear of the Bannisters' house, a episode involving Jerry Bozer, drunk and disheveled, turning up morning to ring the Hearts' doorbell and to call out piteously for Mrs.
There were a vast host of Highlanders, lean as whiter wolves, unshod and barelegged in the cold mud, dirty, disheveled, usually bearded and armed only with dirks, cowhide targets, and a miscellany of archaic polearms.