discontent
Americanadjective
noun
-
discontents
plural
-
Also discontentment. lack of contentment; dissatisfaction.
- Synonyms:
- inquietude, uneasiness, displeasure, restlessness
-
a restless desire or craving for something one does not have.
-
a malcontent.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
Also called: discontentment. lack of contentment, as with one's condition or lot in life
-
a discontented person
adjective
verb
Synonym Usage
See dissatisfaction.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
discontentednessnoun
-
prediscontentnoun
-
prediscontentmentnoun
-
discontentedadjective
-
discontentedlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of discontent
Explanation
When you experience discontent, you're not happy. You've been let down — either by others or by yourself. The word discontent is made up of dis, meaning "not," and content, "a state of peaceful happiness." So as an adjective, discontent means "not happy or peaceful," like the discontent Egyptian citizens who expressed their dissatisfaction with their country's leader by protesting and demanding he give up power. As a verb, discontent means "to make unhappy," like bad news that discontents you.
Vocabulary lists containing discontent
Power Prefix: dis-
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Figurative Language in King's "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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Of Mice and Men
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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.
See Examples For:
And perhaps the end of Craig Bellamy's summer of discontent.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Social media has many users trapped in nostalgia loops, desperately clinging to a simpler era that wasn’t so uniquely mired in digital discontent.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
But the discontent gained louder political voice in the years after 9/11.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
A lack of clarity around AI usage is certainly causing discontent at Pamela's company.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
The crowd mumbled discontent, but they gave way under Tool’s gaze.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
Always at the heart of these discontents was the battery—or batteries, because there has been a succession of them, an alchemist’s closet of energy-storing potions in weirdly shaped bottles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
Park’s not indifferent to normie concerns, such as family tensions and floundering careers, communities and their discontents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2025
Warehouse labor barks its discontents in “Foul” by the New Orleans post-punk band Special Interest.
From New York Times ● Oct. 7, 2022
There was a lot of roiling discontents in Harry.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2022
But men must work on, and Wang Lung worked as he had before, although the lengthening warm days and the sunshine and sudden rains filled everyone with longings and discontents.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
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.
