Discontent

How to spell discontent

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce discontent

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does discontent mean?

1. nounA feeling of dissatisfaction or restless unhappiness with one's situation.
2. adjectiveFeeling dissatisfied or unhappy with one's circumstances.

Discontent in a sentence

• noun

  There was growing discontent among staff over the new shift patterns.

• adjective

  Many workers felt discontent after the bonus was cancelled.

• noun

  The survey revealed widespread discontent with the council's spending.

• adjective

  She grew increasingly discontent with the slow pace of the project.

Where does discontent come from?

Language of origin: French

This word is built from the prefix dis-, meaning 'not' or 'the reverse of', attached to content, which English borrowed from Old French in the late 1300s. Content itself traces back to the Latin contentus, the past participle of continere, meaning 'to hold together' or 'to contain', and the underlying idea was of someone whose desires were 'held in' or restrained, and therefore satisfied. By the 1400s and 1500s English speakers had stacked the negative prefix on top to form discontent, naming the unsettled state of someone who is not satisfied. The same continere root gives us 'contain' and 'continent', and the shared spelling is a helpful reminder that discontent ends in -tent, not -tant. As both a noun and an adjective, it has long described the simmering dissatisfaction that drives people to complain or to push for change.

How the word is built

• dis- (not, opposite of)
• content (satisfied, at ease)