discontent

Etymology

It is formed from English dis- + content.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The adjective, the oldest use, adds the prefix to the adjective content, satisfied; the verb adds it to the verb, perhaps after Middle French descontenter; and the noun adds it to the noun content, contentment, after the verb and adjective.^[2][3][6] The OED compares descontent (1554), Spanish descontento (early 15th century), Portuguese descontente (15th century) and Italian discontento (first half of the 14th century).^[2] The adjective content comes from Old French content (“satisfied”), from Latin contentus (“contained, satisfied”), the past participle of contineō (“to hold together, enclose”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not content; dissatisfied: about 1475, in Benet Burgh's translation of the Distichs of Cato, a text perhaps written before 1440.^[2] Etymonline dates the adjective to the mid-15th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Around 1500 the adjective also meant greatly displeased or indignant, a sense dead by the mid-17th century.^[2][6] The verb first meant to displease or anger (before 1513, in Fabyan's chronicle); from 1549 it meant to make dissatisfied.^[2][4] The noun also began with strong displeasure (1579), but by 1581 meant a lack of contentment; from 1585 it also meant general dissatisfaction with existing social or political conditions;^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the noun to the 1580s and 1596.^[3][4] A discontent was a person inclined to rebel, a malcontent, from 1598 in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1,^[2] or from 1534 according to Merriam-Webster.^[4] The phrase "the winter of our discontent" comes from Shakespeare's Richard III (1594).^[3] Johnson (1755) entered the word as adjective, noun and verb, defining the adjective as "uneasy at the present state; dissatisfied".^[7] The OED and the Shorter Oxford now treat the adjective as somewhat archaic or rare, discontented having taken its place.^[2][6]

Timeline

• c. 1475 – adjective, dissatisfied.^[2]
• c. 1500 – adjective, greatly displeased (obsolete by 1655).^[2]
• before 1513 – verb, to displease greatly (obsolete).^[2]
• 1534 – a discontented person, according to Merriam-Webster.^[4]
• 1549 – verb, to make dissatisfied.^[2][4]
• 1579 – noun, strong displeasure (obsolete).^[2]
• 1581 – noun, lack of contentment.^[2]
• 1585 – a feeling of dissatisfaction, especially with social or political conditions.^[2]
• 1588 – a cause of dissatisfaction, a grievance.^[2]
• 1594 – the winter of our discontent, in Richard III.^[3]
• 1598 – a malcontent, in Shakespeare.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Dissatisfaction with one's circumstances; lack of contentment, often a general dissatisfaction with social or political conditions: Rising rents fed discontent among the tenants.^[8][2][4][9]
2. A particular feeling of dissatisfaction, or its cause; a grievance.^[2][4]
3. A dissatisfied person, especially one inclined to rebel; a malcontent.^[8][4][2][9]

Adjective

1. (now rare) Dissatisfied; discontented.^[2][6][8][9]

Verb

1. To make someone dissatisfied.^[8][4][2][9]
2. (obsolete, 1513–1878) To displease greatly; to anger.^[2][6]

Word family

• discontentment

Related words

• discontented
• content
• malcontent
• contain

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt