dysfunctional
Americanadjective
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not performing normally, as an organ or structure of the body; malfunctioning.
-
having a malfunctioning part or element.
It is hard to get bills through a dysfunctional congress.
-
behaving or acting outside social norms.
All the siblings in their extremely dysfunctional family lost contact as adults.
adjective
-
med (of an organ or part) not functioning normally
-
(esp of a family) characterized by a breakdown of normal or beneficial relationships between members of the group
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dysfunctional
First recorded in 1910–15; dysfunction ( def. ) + -al 1 ( def. )
Explanation
Dysfunctional describes something that doesn't work the way it should. If you know all the printers at the school computer lab are dysfunctional, it's better to print your book report at home. Dys- means "bad," and function means "proper purpose," so when something's working badly, it's dysfunctional. For example, your toaster that always burns the toast is dysfunctional. The word dysfunctional is often used to describe relationships or even whole families whose ways of relating to one another are mentally harmful or are so complicated that nothing feels easy or natural about them.
Vocabulary lists containing dysfunctional
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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.
Wynonna said that she and Ashley were dysfunctional, didn’t agree on anything and developed separate lives, but she cared for her younger sister growing up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
The researchers wanted to determine whether applying a senolytic directly to aging skin could clear some of these dysfunctional cells and improve the skin's ability to repair itself after an injury.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
Thirlwall described a system of "dysfunctional management and governance".
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
But all of that has gone hand-in-hand with persistent complaints about a slow bureaucracy and a dysfunctional city administration which famously took almost 15 years to build an international airport with next-door Brandenburg state.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
A crew composed entirely of eight amped-up, overtly aggressive oarsmen will often degenerate into a dysfunctional brawl in a boat or exhaust itself in the first leg of a long race.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
