as in unacceptable
falling short of a standard this report is completely dissatisfactory on several counts

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dissatisfactory This creates a dissatisfactory customer experience for the 90% of people stopped who actually paid for their items. Guy Yehiav, Forbes, 9 Oct. 2024 Life Decisions Can Change Decisions taken in the shadow of childhood experiences may result in dissatisfactory lives. Fatih Elibol, Forbes, 9 Mar. 2023 Set primarily in the South, Plattner’s vignettes provide intimate glimpses into a series of singular events that, when strung together, paint a larger picture of the melancholic and frequently dissatisfactory state of existing in the modern world. Leah Tyler, ajc, 30 May 2022 In ThedaCare’s case, an attorney described dissatisfactory management and positions in which employees had been chronically underpaid. Molly Osberg, The New Republic, 25 Jan. 2022 Inter Miami fell to CF Montreal 2-0 in their third game at DRV PNK Stadium this season thanks to a first-half performance coach Phil Neville said was dissatisfactory. Khobi Price, sun-sentinel.com, 13 May 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissatisfactory
Adjective
  • In his short stint in Scranton, that number has come down a hair, but still resides at an unacceptable 29.4%.
    Aaliyan Mohammed, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 July 2025
  • Clearly, the line the editorial board is trying to draw between acceptable and unacceptable social media use is murky at best.
    Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 22 July 2025
Adjective
  • There is nothing wrong with having adapted in this way.
    Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 15 July 2025
  • But new research shows that the intuitive assumption that the water is mostly newly melted snow or fresh rain is dead wrong.
    The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 15 July 2025
Adjective
  • Spurred by climate change, Canadian wildfires have increasingly exacerbated poor air quality across Milwaukee and southern Wisconsin.
    Maia Pandey, jsonline.com, 24 July 2025
  • Because the movie's central dynamic—a powerful, U.S.-backed aggressor invading a poor, largely defenseless neighbor—is all too familiar.
    Faisal Kutty, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 July 2025
Adjective
  • As holidays go, however, Flag Day can feel a bit lame.
    Kevin Fisher-Paulson, San Francisco Chronicle, 8 June 2021
  • My 11-year-old loved watching the pups roll balls and play a giant floor piano, but for non-dog owners (guilty as charged), parts of the series—like dressing dogs in little hats and outfits for a Parisian fashion show—feel lame.
    Tim Neville, Outside Online, 23 Nov. 2020
Adjective
  • The alternative — keeping him around, highly paid and not played — would have been worse.
    David Ornstein, New York Times, 22 July 2025
  • Earlier this month, employees at the Environmental Protection Agency, filed their own letter, with even worse results; 140 of them were placed on administrative leave.
    Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 22 July 2025
Adjective
  • According to a Science Direct article, Western diets are deficient in fiber and essential micronutrients, contributing to gut imbalances, chronic inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction.
    Dianne Plummer, Forbes.com, 18 July 2025
  • Something like 95 percent of people are deficient in fiber.
    Hali Bey Ramdene, Bon Appetit Magazine, 11 July 2025
Adjective
  • However, high temperatures could make outdoor celebrations unsatisfactory, with extreme heat warnings in place across Southern California, Southern Nevada and western Arizona through the weekend.
    Anna Skinner, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 June 2025
  • Conspiracy-mongers are now frothing at the mouth as both of the high-profile cases, while unrelated, reached unceremonious, and to many unsatisfactory, ends within just a few days of each other.
    Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 9 July 2025
Adjective
  • And yes, it must also be said that domestic and feral cats have been disastrous to the world's biodiversity, having contributed to the extinction of 40 bird and 21 mammal species – 26% of the extinctions in these groups – since the 1600s.
    New Atlas, New Atlas, 14 July 2025
  • Hunt was the site of particularly disastrous flooding early in the morning on July 4, with officials saying the river swelled more than 20 feet in less than an hour and ultimately killed at least 103 people countywide, including dozens of children at a riverside summer camp called Camp Mystic.
    July 13, CBS News, 13 July 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Dissatisfactory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissatisfactory. Accessed 28 Jul. 2025.

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