dissatisfy
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Etymology
Origin of dissatisfy
Explanation
When you dissatisfy someone, you don't meet their expectations. If you promise your dad a chocolate cake for his birthday, giving him a bran muffin instead might dissatisfy him. To satisfy someone is to fulfill what they need or hope for — and when you dissatisfy them, you fail to do that. Your final research paper might dissatisfy your history professor, and an expensive meal will dissatisfy you if you believe you could cook something even tastier at home. Dissatisfy combines dis-, "do the opposite of," with satisfy, from its Latin root satisfacere, "discharge fully" or "do enough."
Vocabulary lists containing dissatisfy
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:
Success is, eventually, actually reading your unread books, or at least holding on to them long enough that they have the chance to satisfy, dissatisfy or dement you.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 7, 2019
The more time it takes to do something, the higher your labor costs, and the more potential there is to dissatisfy the customer.
From Inc ● Oct. 22, 2012
This workplace is an instance of individuals caught in the grip of unproductive systems, that systematically dispirit the staff, dissatisfy the clients and make the firm less productive than it could be.
From Forbes ● Jun. 23, 2011
But any compromise will be unusually difficult, because the issue seems an all-or-nothing question; simply reducing the funds would dissatisfy everyone.
From Time Magazine Archive
To an Arab Sheik, loudest in importunity, he said: "What has happened since yesterday to dissatisfy thee with life?"
From The Prince of India — Volume 02 by Wallace, Lewis
In his program notes, Everton CEO Angus Kinnear declared that he was "happily dissatisfied" with the campaign - an odd turn of phrase at a confusing moment that quickly soured after a 3-1 defeat.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
It would also make the justices safer in the long run from a public increasingly dissatisfied with their arbitrary secrecy.
From Slate ● Jul. 15, 2026
"They told me they are really dissatisfied with all the existing political parties, because nobody listens to them," he said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
Yet the British, like Americans, remain deeply dissatisfied with the economy, inflation and incomes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
But it dissatisfied me when I had finished it; so, casting it aside, I tried to say the same thing in yet another way in Long Black Song.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
In that, though, “Father Mother Sister Brother” is no doubt true enough to many a family gathering this Christmas—awkward, amusing, a bit dissatisfying, but not a disaster.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025
Anna’s narrative drift takes her to Athens, leading to an ending some may find perfectly natural and others dissatisfying.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2023
Even if A.I. could make changes to movies and books that you personally find dissatisfying, part of those works’ value lies in the shared conversations they inspire—conversations that require opinions about common, historically situated texts.
From Slate ● Mar. 29, 2023
Jaakko can’t help referencing “Fargo” even as he’s being threatened, but rather than follow that cue and dial up the whimsy, the plot eventually thins out into dissatisfying contrivances.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2023
To follow such dissatisfying pursuits is it possible to suffer the ignominy of being unjust?
From Isaac Bickerstaff, physician and astrologer by Steele, Richard, Sir
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.
