perturb
per-TURBverbMeaning to make someone worried or upset
Memory hook PERTURB rhymes with DISTURB. Sami’s drumming next door keeps disturbing Grandpa’s crossword until he can’t think straight. The noise perturbs him.
It perturbed Grandpa Gus that the newspaper had not come by eight.
In context The pilot’s calm voice usually soothed the passengers, so when he sounded rushed and tense, it perturbed them more than the bumpy air did.
Similar disturb, upset, unsettle, worry
Opposite calm, soothe, reassure
From Latin perturbare, “to throw into confusion”: per (thoroughly) + turbare (to disturb), the root of disturb and turbulent.