How to Use dysfunction in a Sentence

dysfunction

noun
  • The disease causes gastrointestinal dysfunctions.
  • Good for you, by the way; tough to do amid dysfunction.
    Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 12 Nov. 2023
  • This means the joint moves too much, which is a common cause of dysfunction.
    Cori Ritchey, Men's Health, 15 Feb. 2023
  • Your husband holds the key to the dysfunction and lack of respect in your household.
    Amy Dickinson, Chicago Tribune, 29 Jan. 2024
  • The dysfunction in this town is very, very widely known.
    Elizabeth Campbell, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2 May 2024
  • Horror movies help some of us process all that dysfunction and worst-ness.
    Sean Abley, Men's Health, 16 Dec. 2022
  • On top of all the chaos and dysfunction, more and more members of Congress are heading for the exits.
    Mark Murray, NBC News, 17 Nov. 2023
  • There was too much at stake, too much to do, too much to fix, and too much division to the degree of great dysfunction.
    Kalia Richardson, Rolling Stone, 9 Dec. 2023
  • For the second time in a week, the House also canceled votes on two funding bills that lacked the support to pass, adding to the dysfunction.
    Caitlin Yilek, CBS News, 9 Nov. 2023
  • The human brain is the most complex organ on the planet, and the signs of its dysfunction are manifold.
    Matt Hrodey, Discover Magazine, 22 May 2023
  • Downey was set to play a cop obsessed with bringing the killer to justice in this sendup of Beltway dysfunction.
    Brent Lang, Variety, 4 Dec. 2023
  • That doesn’t mean your team can’t be better or that it isn’t held back by all-too-common forms of dysfunction.
    Scott Brown, Forbes, 19 Apr. 2023
  • After all the chaos and dysfunction, the British people deserve a say over who governs the country.
    Laura Beers, CNN, 24 Oct. 2022
  • The dreams shared in 2018 are gone, instead replaced by pessimism and dysfunction.
    Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 22 Apr. 2022
  • But strife and dysfunction, long bearable parts of life there, have driven the city to paralysis.
    Dexter Filkins, The New Yorker, 22 July 2024
  • On the other call, with a reporter, Repole tried to explain the dysfunction of horse racing.
    Joe Drape, New York Times, 4 May 2023
  • Here’s a look at the worst of the Bears, from record to point differential to takeaways to general dysfunction.
    Chicago Tribune Staff, Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 2023
  • Inflammation is the trigger for most of the dysfunction and disease in our bodies and in our skin.
    Harper's BAZAAR, 5 May 2023
  • The dysfunction has left area residents with a nagging fear: what happens when a big fire comes?
    Jonathan Shorman, Kansas City Star, 22 Mar. 2024
  • By the fall, the DeSantis operation was mired in a mess of dysfunction.
    Maggie Haberman, New York Times, 25 Jan. 2024
  • At the time, that seemed like a full-time job itself with a franchise so accustomed to losing and dysfunction.
    Mark Maske, Anchorage Daily News, 17 Oct. 2022
  • Their dynamic feels very familiar to me, the laughter and the dysfunction.
    Yvonne Villarreal, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2024
  • Still, Morris saw the draft post going live as proof of dysfunction at Insider during the strike.
    Elahe Izadi, Washington Post, 14 June 2023
  • The Roys will be back too, for more deals, dysfunction, and drama, and the new season is supposed to pick up just after the big season 3 finale on the timeline.
    Aimée Lutkin, ELLE, 25 Mar. 2023
  • But so much of the school board meeting dysfunction sweeping the country is as much a battle over symbols as substance.
    Courtney E. Martin, The Christian Science Monitor, 6 June 2023
  • Whether this is a product of a dysfunction specific to New York or the sign of a national bloodbath to come remains to be seen.
    Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 31 Oct. 2022
  • Miles was appointed by the state to address the academic decline and dysfunction in the district.
    Joshua Q. Nelson, Fox News, 21 July 2023
  • The disruption in nerve signals leads to dysfunction of mood control.
    Smita Patel, Verywell Health, 26 Sep. 2024
  • The Kims, a family struggling to make ends meet, set their scheming sights on the Parks, a well-to-do family with plenty of problems of their own, but also plenty of money to muffle their dysfunction.
    Jennifer M. Wood, WIRED, 29 Oct. 2024
  • In this case, this distance from the family might offer relief, and freedom from potential dysfunction.
    ​wendy Wisner, Parents, 23 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dysfunction.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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