disaffected
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disaffected
Explanation
The adjective disaffected describes someone who is dissatisfied or rebellious. Usually if you're disaffected, you're upset with people in authority. You and your fellow disaffected workers might become so upset about the lack of raises that you decided to boycott work. You might have heard the term "disaffected youth," which refers to young people rebelling against some aspect of society. For example, disaffected youth might fight against their lack of political freedom. Disaffected can also be used to describe things rather than people, like the disaffected lyrics in a song or the disaffected mood of a poem describing an unhappy or bitter state of mind. The word disaffected comes from disaffect, meaning "estranged, hostile."
Vocabulary lists containing disaffected
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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Treasure Island
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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.
It concludes that the true challenge for Newsom is not just securing the nomination, but mobilizing disaffected and disengaged voters who may otherwise sit out another election.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
Despite its humorous origins, the CJP group quickly became a lightning rod for India's disaffected young people.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Murphy lays out a provocative agenda for Democrats to call Americans to national service, break up corporate power, rebuild local communities, and create a bigger tent that reaches disaffected conservatives hungry for change.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
Peter Flynn, a 54-year-old local electrician, likens Reform’s rise to the peasants’ revolt in 1381, when a group of disaffected rebels stormed the Tower of London.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
She sounded disaffected, cool, all blues and violets, the opposite of the hot ember glow that burned inside Maya.
From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway
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.
