disaffection

UK/dɪsəˈfɛkʃən/US/dɪsəˈfɛkʃən/

nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechmostly written

Disaffection is loss of loyalty towards those in charge. Widespread disaffection.

It is quieter than opposition and far harder to answer, since nobody is demanding anything. Disaffection shows up as people simply not turning out rather than as protest.

Definitions of disaffection

1noundisaffectionLoss of loyalty towards those in charge.C2
“The disaffection had been building for a decade before anybody measured it.”

disaffection is a feeling.

Where it comes from

From disaffect, dis- plus affect in the older sense of feeling attached to something.

From disaffect + -ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

disaffection in the wild

The ex-emir Amanullah is hanging on to the other side of the frontier and is believed to be under Nazi orders to foment disaffection.
1941 in Afghanistan
A recurring theme throughout the album is disaffection with the government of then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
Go Figure (album)
The Nixon mask remains popular today and is worn both for humorous effect and in protest marches and similar "public displays of disaffection".
Richard Nixon mask
The chief causes of disaffection against the amir have been his attempts to purify the administration and to impose conscription on the people.
1923 in Afghanistan
The book focuses on the drabness of life in the student residence, and the suspicions and disaffection of the writers being trained to produce Socialist realist literature.
Twilight of the Eastern Gods

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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