Standard Lemma guide

unsatisfactory

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌʌnsætɪsˈfækt(ə)ɹi/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -æktəɹi
  • CMU ARPABET: AH2 N S AH0 T IH0 S F AE1 K T ER0 IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: deficient, insufficient, wanting, awanting, dismal, exiguous, geason, inadequate, lank, lean, lousy, meager, measly, paltry, poor, raunchy, scant, scantling, scanty, scarce, skimpy, sleazy, slender, spare, sparse, threadbare, unsatisfactory, unsufficient, wanty

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective

Meaning 2

not giving satisfaction

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • shops should take back unsatisfactory goods
  • her performance proved to be unsatisfactory
  • life is becoming increasingly unsatifactory
  • our discussion was very unsatisfactory

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: satisfactory

History

Etymology

From un- + satisfactory.

Across languages

Translations

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Asturian: insatisfactoriu — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Belarusian: нездавальня́ючы (njezdavalʹnjájučy) — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Bulgarian: незадоволителен (nezadovolitelen) — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Catalan: insatisfactori — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不满足的 — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不尽人意的 — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Danish: utilfredsstillende — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Dutch: onbevredigend — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Esperanto: malkontentiga — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Estonian: mitterahuldav — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Finnish: epätyydyttävä — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • French: insatisfaisant — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Galician: insatisfactorio — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Georgian: არადამაკმაყოფილებელი (aradamaḳmaq̇opilebeli) — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Hungarian: elégtelen — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Hungarian: nem kielégítő — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Norwegian Bokmål: utilfredsstillende — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Polish: niezadowalający — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Portuguese: insatisfatório — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Russian: неудовлетвори́тельный (neudovletvorítelʹnyj) — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Spanish: insatisfactorio — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Swedish: otillfredsställande — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Telugu: అసంతృప్తికరమైన (asantr̥ptikaramaina) — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
  • Ukrainian: незадові́льний (nezadovílʹnyj) — inadequate, substandard or not satisfactory
Real reading context

unsatisfactory in complete knowledge articles

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