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:
"All these things got high visibility and created public dissatisfaction in Bangladesh which in a way reflected on Dhaka's thinking process," says Humayun Kabir, a former Bangladeshi diplomat.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
As they bicker and jab, their quiet dissatisfaction with their lives stops being so quiet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 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
Makary had faced growing dissatisfaction over how he managed the nation’s drug and vaccine approval process.
From Barron's ● May 13, 2026
She accused him of nothing, but more and more he sensed her distance, her dissatisfaction, her distraction.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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
Haemin is especially eloquent on life’s smaller dissatisfactions, and how they can sometimes be trickier to deal with than the bigger, more dramatic ones.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 12, 2019
He added, “Perhaps my basic dissatisfactions are what motivate me.”
From New York Times ● May 19, 2017
Why must he come to her with his seething and suffering and dissatisfactions?
From The Rainbow by Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert)
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.
