discomfit

The author says Prescott was in a "class of his own when it came to discomfiting Charles".

I came away from “Notes to John” feeling discomfited and saddened — though literary scholars may read it as providing context with which to deconstruct a great writer’s oeuvre.

But when the movie reaches an admirable capacity with its ideas about parenthood, authoritarianism, mortality and connection, it falters in bringing everything to the reverberating conclusion its discomfiting first two-thirds merits.

People who consider it their right to force their religious beliefs on others are not just discomfiting to members of a religious minority like me; they’re frightening.

And, often, getting discomfited slightly helps that process along.