Unsatisfactory

Definition: Unsatisfactory

Unsatisfactory

Adjective

1. Not giving satisfaction; "shops should take back unsatisfactory goods"; "her performance proved to be unsatisfactory"; "life is becoming increasingly unsatifactory"; "our discussion was very unsatisfactory".

2. Not adequate recompense or expiation; "the pay is unsatisfactory and the conditions are unacceptable".

Date "unsatisfactory" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1615. (references)

Antonym: satisfactory (adj). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Discontent	Disappointing; Verb: unsatisfactory.
Inexpedience	Vile, base, villainous; mean; (paltry); injured; deteriorated; unsatisfactory, exceptionable indifferent; below par; (imperfect); illcontrived, ill-conditioned; wretched, sad, grievous, deplorable, lamentable; pitiful, pitiable, woeful; (painful).
	Ill-contrived, ill-advised; unsatisfactory; unprofitable; unsubservient; (useless); inopportune; (unseasonable); out of place, in the wrong place; improper, unseemly.
Pain	Unsatisfactory, untoward, unlucky, uncomfortable.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Title
Books	Behavioral Supervision: Practical Ways to Change Unsatisfactory Behavior and Increase Productivity (reference) Edith Wharton and the Unsatisfactory Man (Critical Studies Series) (reference) Improving supervisor productivity through, managing the unsatisfactory employee (reference) Managing the Marginal and Unsatisfactory Performer (reference) Unsatisfactory Results in Hand Surgery (Hand and Upper Limb Volume 3) (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Migrant workers' camp, outskirts of Marysville, California. The new migratory camps now being built by the Resettlement Administration will remove people from unsatisfactory living conditions such as these and substitute at least the minimum of comfort an. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Unsatisfactory for evaluation. (references)
		If a product is not mentioned, this does not mean or imply that the product is unsatisfactory. (references)
		Smears may be unsatisfactory for a variety of reasons, the most common of which are obscuring blood or inflammation. (references)
Business		By 1980, venting had been reduced to just 26.7 percent, still a very unsatisfactory level. (references)
		According to industry respondents, the average Philippine consumer tends to try purchasing online once. However, there are pitfalls to purchasing items online, such as unrealiable specifications and difficulty in returning unsatisfactory items. (references)
		The Chilean customer is beginning to become aware of "consumer rights", and it is more common that unhappy clients report irregular situations, unsatisfactory service, defective products, and deceptive propaganda to SERNAC, Servicio Nacional del Consumidor (National Consumer Service). (references)
Children	India	In a 1999 report, the NHRC stated that conditions at many mental hospitals throughout the country are unsatisfactory. (references)
Economic History	Honduras	Dispute resolution within the Honduran legal system is slow and generally unsatisfactory. (references)
	Benin	Foreign companies who dismiss employees for unsatisfactory performance are routinely sued. (references)
Political Economy	CZECH REPUBLIC	A procurement law introduced in 1994 proved unsatisfactory. (references)
	ISRAEL	Ministry of Labor inspectors are responsible for enforcing these restrictions, but children's rights advocates contend that enforcement is unsatisfactory, especially in smaller, unorganized workplaces. (references)
Political Rights	Algeria	Under a system of proportional representation, the government-supported party, the National Democratic Rally (RND) won a plurality of 154 seats out of a total of 371. In their final report, neutral observers stated that, of the 1,258 (of the country's 35,000) voting stations that they assessed, 1,169 produced satisfactory results, 95 were problematic, and 11 were unsatisfactory. (references)
Worker Rights	Poland	The nurses found the offer unsatisfactory, and demonstrated in the streets, occupied the labor ministry, and blocked transportation arteries. (references)
	Korea	It is difficult for illegal workers to seek relief for loss of pay or unsatisfactory living and working conditions because they face deportation. (references)
	Lithuania	The most numerous abuses included wage arrears, illegal employment (working without a written contract), the violation of labor contracts, time off and work time accounting, harmful working conditions, and the unsatisfactory investigation of accidents. (references)
Lexicography	Devil's Dictionary	NEGRO, n. The piece de resistance in the American political problem. Representing him by the letter n, the Republicans begin to build their equation thus: "Let n = the white man." This, however, appears to give an unsatisfactory solution.
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Unsatisfactory" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Unsatisfactory" is used about 771 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)	100%	771	8,912

Language		Translations for "unsatisfactory"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		i pakënaqshëm (dissatisfactory, unsatisfying). (various references)

Arabic		‏غير مرض (wrong). (various references)

Bulgarian		незадоволителен (dissatisfactory, ill, inadequate, lame, lamentable, meager, meagre, sour). (various references)

Chinese		令人不满. (various references)

Czech		neuspokojivý (unsatisfying), nedostateèný (deficient, insufficient). (various references)

Finnish		epätyydyttävä. (various references)

French		peu satisfaisant (unsatisfactorily). (various references)

German		ungenügend (deficient, inadequate, insufficient, insufficiently, insuffient), unbefriedigend (dissatisfactory, dissatisfying, unsatisfactorily, unsatisfying, unsatisfyingly). (various references)

Greek		όχι ικανοποιητικόσ, μη ικανοποιητικόσ, δυσάρεστοσ (disagreeable, displeasing, nasty, noisome, objectionable, ungracious, unpleasant). (various references)

Hungarian		elégtelen (below the line, deficient, dissatisfactory, inadequate, insufficient, scanty, scarce, underdose). (various references)

Italian		insoddisfacente. (various references)

Japanese Kanji		遺憾 (regrettable). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		いか�" (ancient headgear showing rank, company officer, how, in what way, Italian warship, kimono and ancient head-dress, magnificent sight, medical officer, officer below the rank of major, rank and official position, regrettable, transfer of control), あきたらない (unsatisfying), ものたりない (unsatisfied). (various references)

Korean		불만족한. (various references)

Pig Latin		atisfactoryunsay

Portuguese		que deixa a desejar, não satisfatório, medíocre (average, bush-league, dissatisfactory, mediocre, middle-of-the-road, middling, poor, run-of-the-mill, so-so, undistinguished), defeituoso (amiss, defective, deficient, dissatisfactory, faulty, imperfect, unsound). (various references)

Romanian		nesatisfãcãtor (lame), nemulţumitor (ungrateful, unsatisfying), necorespunzãtor (abnormal, ill, improper, inadequate, inappropriate, incommensurate, incongruous). (various references)

Russian		неудовлетворительный (dissatisfactory, dissatisfied). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		nezadovoljavajući (dissatisfactory), nedovoljan (failing, insufficient, unsatisfying, wanting). (various references)

Spanish		insatisfactorio. (various references)

Swedish		otillfredsställande (dissatisfactory, dusty, unsatisfying). (various references)

Turkish		yetersiz (defective, deficient, disqualified, exiguous, half-way, handicapped, inadequate, incapable, incommensurate, incompetent, inconclusive, inefficient, ineligible, insufficient, meager, meagre, poorly, powerless, scant, scanty, scrimp, scrimpy, shoestring, short, skimp, skimpy, slender, slim, spare, unequal, unfit, unqualified, unsatisfied, unsatisfying), tatmin edici olmayan (unsatisfying), sudan (flimsy, slight, sorry, Sudan, sudanese, thin, unsatisfying, watery). (various references)

Turkmen		kanagatlanlarlyks z. (various references)

Ukrainian		незадовільний (dissatisfactory, unsatisfying). (various references)

Vietnamese		thường (banal, habitual, mediocre, normal, often, oftentimes, ordinary, still, trifling, trivial, usual, vulgar), không l� m vừa lòng xo� ng, không l� m vừa ý (unpleasing), không l� m tho m n (unsatisfying). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Misspellings
	"Unsatisfactory" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: unsatisfactorly, unsatisfactoy. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "unsatisfactory" (pronounced u'nsutusfa"kterē)
9	-t u s f a" k t er ē	satisfactory.
6	-f a" k t er ē	factory, olfactory.
5	-a" k t er ē	refractory.
4	-k t er ē	contradictory, directory, introductory, perfunctory, rectory, trajectory, valedictory, victory.
3	-t er ē	adultery, alimentary, artery, battery, blustery, buttery, complimentary, coterie, documentary, eatery, effrontery, flattery, glittery, history, jittery, lottery, mastery, mystery, notary, parliamentary, peremptory, pottery, premonitory, protohistory, rotary, rudimentary, sedimentary, splintery, supplementary, testamentary, upholstery, watery.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-c-f-i-n-o-r-s-s-t-t-u-y"
	-1 letter: anfractuosity.
	-2 letters: astronautics, satisfactory.
	-3 letters: astronautic, castrations, fascinators, saturations, surfactants.
	-4 letters: actuations, astronauts, castration, causations, cautionary, crayonists, fantastico, fantastics, fascinator, furcations, saturation, stationary, suctorians, surfactant.
	-5 letters: actuation, actuators, anacrusis, antirusts, antistory, artifacts, astronaut, autocrats, caryotins, castratos, casuistry, causation, contrasts, contrasty, crayonist, croissant, cryostats, fantasist, fantastic, fractions, fractious, furcation, instructs, naturists, raincoats, sacristan, sanctuary, saturants, strontias.
	Words containing the letters "a-a-c-f-i-n-o-r-s-s-t-t-u-y"
	+2 letters: unsatisfactorily.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.