malcontent
Americanadjective
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not satisfied or content with currently prevailing conditions or circumstances.
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dissatisfied with the existing government, administration, system, etc.
noun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of malcontent
Explanation
A malcontent is someone who's always dissatisfied. The guy at the restaurant who sends back the steak because it's too rare, then sends it back a second time complaining that it's not rare enough — he's a malcontent. Malcontent is often used to describe people who complain about more important things than steaks — things like social and political injustice. In Shakespeare's day, the Malcontent was a popular character type. Hamlet was a classic Malcontent. He believed that his uncle, King Claudius, murdered his father for power, and it made him angry that everyone else seemed to think that Claudius was a good person.
Vocabulary lists containing malcontent
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Take the Bad with the Good: Bene and Mal
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John McCain (1936 - 2018) Tribute List
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Perhaps deep in the movie’s own subterranean basement of ideas, “Hokum” is a modern take on Ebenezer Scrooge’s night terrors, only I wouldn’t put much stock in Scott’s malcontent turning his life around.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
She’s the kind of malcontent who will, in all sincerity, accuse people of being “in cahoots.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 29, 2024
But it wouldn’t be a reach to believe the NBA legend’s criticism of his portrayal in the show — as a tempestuous and profane malcontent who vacillates between anger and despair — helped boost ratings.
From Washington Post ● May 15, 2022
The year I turned 15 — a malcontent at odds with my stepmom — I returned to my dad and brother in Washington State.
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2021
As soon as you have revealed your intention to one malcontent, you give him the means to make himself content, since he can have everything he desires by revealing the plot.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
