dysfunction

UK/dɪsˈfʌŋk.ʃən/US/dɪsˈfʌŋk.ʃən/

nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — function sits at #2,319leans writtentechnical · an editor’s judgement

Other forms: dysfunctions

Dysfunction is the state of not working as it should. An organ, a family, or a whole system.

The medical sense is precise, and kidney dysfunction or thyroid dysfunction names a failure of normal working rather than a specific disease. The social sense is now extremely common, and family dysfunction and institutional dysfunction both describe patterns that keep producing bad outcomes without anybody intending them. The adjective dysfunctional is used more loosely still and often simply means a mess.

Definitions of dysfunction

1noundysfunctionFailure to operate normally.C2
“The report describes serious dysfunction at every level.”

Where it comes from

Proto-Indo-European
*bʰewg-
Middle French
function
English
function
English, today
dysfunction

Built from

fungor · Latin — to perform, execute, discharge

From dys- + function. function Borrowed from Middle French function. From Middle French function, from Old French fonction, from Latin functiō (“performance, execution”), from functus, perfect participle of fungor (“to perform, execute, discharge”), from Proto-Indo-European bʰewg- (“to enjoy”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 15 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

dysfunction in the wild

The term erectile dysfunction does not encompass other erection-related disorders, such as priapism.
Erectile dysfunction
Sildenafil, sold under the brand name Viagra among others, is a medication used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Sildenafil
Anorgasmia is a type of sexual dysfunction in which a person cannot achieve orgasm despite adequate sexual stimulation.
Anorgasmia
Tadalafil, sold under the brand name Cialis among others, is a medication used to treat erectile dysfunction, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Tadalafil
Dysautonomia, autonomic failure, or autonomic dysfunction is a condition in which the autonomic nervous system (ANS) does not work properly.
Dysautonomia

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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 fungor family

function malfunction functional

dysfunction — used too rare to measure · point at the bar for the others

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