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UNSATISFACTORY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not giving satisfaction
Example:
our discussion was very unsatisfactory
Classified under:
Similar:
disappointing; dissatisfactory; unsatisfying (not up to expectations)
failing (below acceptable in performance)
off (below a satisfactory level)
unacceptable (not adequate to give satisfaction)
Also:
unacceptable (not acceptable; not welcome)
inadequate; unequal (lacking the requisite qualities or resources to meet a task)
Antonym:
satisfactory (giving satisfaction)
Derivation:
unsatisfactoriness (the quality of being inadequate or unsuitable)
Context examples:
He was tired of books, and found people so interesting now that Mr. Brooke was obliged to make very unsatisfactory reports, for Laurie was always playing truant and running over to the Marches'.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
All that she could tell she told most gladly, but the all was little for one who had been there, and unsatisfactory for such an enquirer as Mrs Smith, who had already heard, through the short cut of a laundress and a waiter, rather more of the general success and produce of the evening than Anne could relate, and who now asked in vain for several particulars of the company.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
