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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

dysfunction.

A failure to function in an expected or complete manner. Usually refers to a disorder in a bodily organ (e.g. erectile dysfunction), a mental disorder, or the improper behavior of a social group.

11 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/dɪsˈfʌŋk.ʃən/

  1. A failure to function in an expected or complete manner. Usually refers to a disorder in a bodily organ (e.g. erectile dysfunction), a mental disorder, or the improper behavior of a social group.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dews-? Proto-Indo-European *dus- Proto-Hellenic *dus- Ancient Greek δῠσ- (dŭs-)der. New Latin dys-der. English dys- Proto-Indo-European *bʰewg-der. Proto-Italic *fungōr Latin fungor Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin fūnctiō Old French fonction Middle French functionbor. English function English dysfunction From dys- + function.

verb/dɪsˈfʌŋk.ʃən/

  1. To fail to function correctly; to malfunction.

    intransitive · nonstandard
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dews-? Proto-Indo-European *dus- Proto-Hellenic *dus- Ancient Greek δῠσ- (dŭs-)der. New Latin dys-der. English dys- Proto-Indo-European *bʰewg-der. Proto-Italic *fungōr Latin fungor Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin fūnctiō Old French fonction Middle French functionbor. English function English dysfunction From dys- + function.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.