malcontent
Americanadjective
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not satisfied or content with currently prevailing conditions or circumstances.
-
dissatisfied with the existing government, administration, system, etc.
noun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of malcontent
Explanation
A malcontent is someone who's always dissatisfied. The guy at the restaurant who sends back the steak because it's too rare, then sends it back a second time complaining that it's not rare enough — he's a malcontent. Malcontent is often used to describe people who complain about more important things than steaks — things like social and political injustice. In Shakespeare's day, the Malcontent was a popular character type. Hamlet was a classic Malcontent. He believed that his uncle, King Claudius, murdered his father for power, and it made him angry that everyone else seemed to think that Claudius was a good person.
Vocabulary lists containing malcontent
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Take the Bad with the Good: Bene and Mal
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John McCain (1936 - 2018) Tribute List
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Malcontent is good for business as long as you're the one who benefits from it.
From Salon • Jul. 18, 2024
The new Malcontent production will be open to girls as well as boys.
From BBC • Jun. 18, 2013
Dromgoole described The Malcontent, John Marston's satire, written around 1603, as "a dizzyingly funny, rude and wild play".
From BBC • Jun. 18, 2013
When The Malcontent was first staged in the Blackfriars playhouse at the turn of the seventeenth century, the cast was made up of a troupe of boy players.
From BBC • Jun. 18, 2013
Malcontent, mal′kon-tent, adj. discontented, dissatisfied, esp. in political matters.—n. one discontented—also Malcontent′ed.—adv.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
