dissatisfaction
Americannoun
-
the state or attitude of not being satisfied; discontent; displeasure.
- Synonyms:
- uneasiness, disapproval, disappointment
-
a particular cause or feeling of displeasure or disappointment.
many dissatisfactions with the plan.
noun
Synonym Usage
Dissatisfaction, discontent, displeasure imply a sense of dislike for, or unhappiness in, one's surroundings. Dissatisfaction results from contemplating what falls short of one's wishes or expectations: dissatisfaction with the results of an afternoon's work. Discontent is a sense of lack and a general feeling of uneasy dislike for the conditions of one's life: feeling a continual vague discontent. Displeasure suggests a certain amount of anger as well as dissatisfaction: displeasure at being kept waiting.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of dissatisfaction
First recorded in 1630–40; dis- 1 + satisfaction
Explanation
When you're unhappy, disappointed, or annoyed about something, you feel a sense of dissatisfaction. Your dissatisfaction with your boring French class might inspire you to switch to beginning Mandarin. An entire country's dissatisfaction with their government can lead to a new administration being voted in, or in the case of extreme dissatisfaction, a revolution. Your dissatisfaction with the pasta dish you ordered might simply make you ask for a hamburger instead. Dissatisfaction adds the dis-, or "lack of," prefix to satisfaction, which originally referred to "an act by a priest to atone for sin," but came to mean "contentment" by the 14th century.
Vocabulary lists containing dissatisfaction
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:
There is little margin for error or customer dissatisfaction, as disgruntled viewers will tune out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old Democratic socialist, capitalized on the state’s leftward turn and voter dissatisfaction with incumbents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
MPs launched an inquiry into student loans in England this year amid "widespread dissatisfaction" over repayment terms.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
He said one of the most common sentiments he hears from voters whose doors he knocks on is broad dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party.
From Salon ● Jun. 4, 2026
For Ulbricht, the problem with the city's open border had nothing to do with spies: It was with the dissatisfaction of his own people, the seventeen million citizens of the German Democratic Republic, or GDR.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
But “The Book of Ayn” is rife with dissatisfactions — to its credit — and with self-aware jokes and serious questions about self-awareness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2023
So The Mars Trilogy comes out of my dissatisfactions with the constraints I had set on myself with Pacific Edge.
From Slate ● Feb. 6, 2020
The Harvard economics professor Ken Rogoff points out that many of the dissatisfactions it seeks to address would be more effectively achieved by a rigorous assault on monopolies than a take-down of the free market.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 19, 2018
He added, “Perhaps my basic dissatisfactions are what motivate me.”
From New York Times ● May 19, 2017
Study has been for me the sovereign remedy for all the dissatisfactions of life, having never had a sense of chagrin that an hour’s reading would not dissipate.
From French Classics by Wilkinson, William Cleaver
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.
