dissatisfied
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dissatisfied
First recorded in 1665–75; dissatisfy + -ed 2
Explanation
If you're dissatisfied, you're not happy — you're annoyed and disgruntled. You probably don't enjoy eating out with your parents if they're always dissatisfied with the food they order. You might be dissatisfied with the final episode of your favorite TV show, or dissatisfied with your grades n German last semester. In either case, you're not pleased. A slightly different way to be dissatisfied is to be unconvinced: "She was dissatisfied with the answer he gave when she asked when he planned to pay back the money he owed her." Dissatisfied combines dis-, "not," and satisfied, from a Latin root, satisfacere, "do enough."
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.
But are the 70% of Americans who are dissatisfied with higher ed also imagining?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Bloomberg Law, which first reported the demotions, said Washington Field Office leadership was dissatisfied with the pace of the investigation and that the Miller family shared those frustrations.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026
After an interaction with Nye in July 2024, Kamra gave evidence that he was "dissatisfied" and that questions he had for Nye were still not answered.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
In an effort to persuade voters who are dissatisfied with the status quo, Hilton bought a full-page ad in the Wednesday editions of the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Let us be dissatisfied until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history, and every family will live in a decent, sanitary home.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
