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dissatisfaction

UK/dɪsˌsætɪsˈfækʃən/US/dɪsˌsætɪsˈfækʃən/
nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,125 of 15,258leans written

Dissatisfaction is the feeling that something is not good enough. Not anger — a settled sense of falling short.

It takes with. The word appears constantly in surveys and complaints, since expressing dissatisfaction is the formal phrase, and it is deliberately more measured than unhappiness. There is a phrase about restlessness, since a general dissatisfaction with life is a state rather than a reaction to any one thing. Its opposite is satisfaction, and the adjective dissatisfied describes the person.

Definitions of dissatisfaction

  1. 1noundissatisfactionA feeling that something has fallen short of what was expected.B2+

    “There is widespread dissatisfaction with the new timetable.”

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *seh₂-

  2. Latin

    satisfactio

  3. Old French

    satisfaccion

  4. Middle English

    satisfaccioun

  5. English

    satisfaction

  6. English, today

    dissatisfaction

From dis- + satisfaction. satisfaction comes from Middle English satisfaccioun, from Old French satisfaccion and Latin satisfactio.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 11 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

dissatisfaction in the wild

  • Such behavior creates body dissatisfaction and higher risks of eating disorders, isolation, and mental illnesses in the long term.

    Body image

  • Sexual frustration is a sense of dissatisfaction stemming from a discrepancy between a person's desired and achieved sexual activity.

    Sexual frustration

  • Changes to cost of servicing a mortgage, seen through interest rate fluctuations, can trigger widespread satisfaction or dissatisfaction towards the government of the day.

    Mortgage belt

  • Political dissent is a dissatisfaction with or opposition to the policies of a governing body.

    Political dissent

  • Some of its units are rented as hotel rooms, in violation of existing regulations and to the dissatisfaction of renters.

    Block 17

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.

Related words

the satisfactio family

satisfaction

dissatisfaction — used about once every 12,385 pages · #12,125 · point at the bar for the others