Not performing its proper or intended function.
Used in a Sentence
dysfunctional
Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for dysfunctional.
Editorial note
They only get to be parasitic when the real estate market is dysfunctional and supply is constrained, possibly artificially.
Examples15
Definitions2
Parts of speech1
Quick take
Not performing its proper or intended function.
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of dysfunctional gathered in one view.
Functioning incorrectly or abnormally; especially, designating of a business, family or social group with harmful, aberrant, strange or abnormal behavior.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for dysfunctional.
adjective
Not performing its proper or intended function.
See also: impaired, maladaptive, nonadaptive
adjective
Functioning incorrectly or abnormally; especially, designating of a business, family or social group with harmful, aberrant, strange or abnormal behavior.
See also: impaired, maladaptive, nonadaptive
Example sentences
They only get to be parasitic when the real estate market is dysfunctional and supply is constrained, possibly artificially.
By and large, they're dysfunctional people; introverted to the point that it hinders their success in most things they attempt.
People are just getting used to this huge mesh their brains now exist in, and they are still dysfunctional at it.
I'm not a Christie fan, but blaming him for attempting to break the dysfunctional cycle seems misplaced.
Would this be a more effective market, or a dysfunctional one, and why?
The dysfunctional tax system in Greece isn't the cause of the crisis.
We're being judged not as individuals, but as part of the biased sample of bad apples from dysfunctional organizations that this guy has dealt with.
If you think such things are a bad idea, and you think a culture that encourages them is dysfunctional, then legality is really beside the point.
Twitter today feels even more dysfunctional as a company.
One of the reasons the private health insurance market is so dysfunctional is that relatively few people participate in it (most people are covered by their employers).
It leads to dysfunctional behaviors because people don't want to earnestly told that their face is ugly when they first meet someone and every time after that.
Examples of this is the dysfunctional university/research system.
Quote examples
Besides, being poor and working hand to mouth, or coming from a dysfunctional poor family, lessens your "desire to know more about the world" and your sophistication....
The "Bay Area" may help sustain SV, but San Francisco proper is a pretty small part of that -- it is a hub of night-life/clubs, an overly pretentious literature and arts scene, and a completely dysfunctional city government.
"They tried working with Mozilla for Firefox 2 development, but realized that Mozilla is a dysfunctional project with questionable leadership and insular development practices, so working with them really wasn't tenable." No, they realized that the Mozilla project could not be bent to Google's whims, so they took their ball and went home.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use dysfunctional in a sentence?
They only get to be parasitic when the real estate market is dysfunctional and supply is constrained, possibly artificially.
What does dysfunctional mean?
Not performing its proper or intended function.
What part of speech is dysfunctional?
dysfunctional is commonly used as adjective.