maladjusted
Americanadjective
adjective
-
psychol suffering from maladjustment
-
badly adjusted
Etymology
Origin of maladjusted
Explanation
Someone who's maladjusted has a hard time coping with life's challenges and difficulties. If you're maladjusted at school, you just can't seem to fit in with your fellow students or figure out what your teachers expect from you. Maladjusted people can't deal with fairly ordinary stresses and trials, or they can't get along with other people. You might feel socially maladjusted if you move to a new country that's culturally very different from your home, for example. Sometimes this adjective is used to describe a system, like the economy, to emphasize how unstable it is: "This maladjusted economy is creating a society of haves and have-nots."
Vocabulary lists containing maladjusted
Speak
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The Pigman
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Roots: mal
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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.
But due to twists of fate, she’s the miserable, maladjusted one.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
Set up in 1966 for "maladjusted" boys, children would be sent to Berrow Wood in the hope of receiving an education.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2025
It is time to serve as that creatively maladjusted, transformed minority.
From Salon ● Feb. 12, 2025
According to Davis, during the latter half of the 20th century, many Americans came to believe that divorce could be blamed for maladjusted children, poor educational outcomes, crime, poverty, and more.
From Slate ● Oct. 30, 2023
My mother can’t believe it: a living, breathing friend on the front porch for her maladjusted daughter!
From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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.
