Do you know the difference between dissatisfied and unsatisfied?
I had to look it up myself. 😶
So basically, being actively annoyed is to be dissatisfied with a situation, person or circumstance.
To be unsatisfied seems to imply that there was a possibility of pure satisfaction but something happened, or interrupted the process to reach it.
I’m processing these definitions today to clarify a few circumstances percolating inside my brain.
What do you think? Can you elaborate on the above definitions?
Writer of Words etc 
These are excellent definitions and some clever examples in the comments. I think of satisfied as a comfortable feeling, unsatisfied as not yet at the comfortable stage, and dissatisfied as angry or an opposite to satisfied.
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Sort of my feeling too.
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I do love word games. 🙂 After reflecting on everyone’s fabulous comments, I thought I just gotta ‘come up’ with my own imaginitive definition:
Dissatisfied she wouldn’t agree to trying a ‘creative’ sexual position. (I’m actively annoyed.)
After much pleading she agrees!
Unsatisfied she hadn’t at least tried to match my sexual exertions. (The opportunity for pure satisfaction existed, yet she chose not to!)
All good fun 😀 . (Hmm, but will Claudette LOL agree?)
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I wouldn’t have worded it quite like this, but I was reading through the comments wondering if you would weigh in.
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🙄LOL am I that predictable? But I must admit interacting on WP and lol contributing to a discussion is fun.
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Andrew, it’s your brand!😉 As the kids say, “you do you”
As a children’s author, my brand must remain G rated.
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Just remember the audience of this blog is family oriented. You know my email if you have a riskier comment you’d like to share. 😉
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Yes Claudette I understand. My eclectic postings are whatever captures my imagination, I sometimes forget yours has a family readership. 🙂
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So did I. 🙂
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I thought there would be an answer of this sort coming from Andrew… 😉
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Good point, it made me think, this musing on lexical meaning.
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I was dissatisfied with a work application, so I took the time to pursue it, unlike many of my colleagues in the same situation unsatisfied. My hard work and contacting the right person paid off and now I am supremely satisfied and ready to move forward since I am no longer dissatisfied.
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I ate my bowl of soup but walked away hungry and unsatisfied. The yard work was sloppy, patches of grass not cut leaving me dissatisfied.
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Good description! Unsatisfied=still hungry. 🙂
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My thought is similar. I am unsatisfied with one piece of chocolate. I am dissatisfied when there is no chocolate in the house. 😉
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Ha!
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I think it is scary you have so much time to think about these things and I find myself curious about why. I need to publish something soon. I have heard good news that fewer writers are submitting because they are worrying about things outside of their control, so this leaves more opportunity for other writers. You can only fill the brain with so much nonsense.
We are all a little grumpy with things but we still need to figure out for ourself how to get past. I am now worried some of my students might use this as an excuse to not do work. LOL but I can’t control them, only myself and my reaction to them.
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Sure, simple…unsatisfied I walk away peacefully…dissatisfied I erase the irritation by any means necessary.
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I like that. Removing irritation. 🙂
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At first thought, I feel like the difference in these words comes down to expectations…?
For example, if you’re expecting something specific and don’t get it, that feels like a possible definition of dissatisfied.
Or if you have no expectations and something just lands in an off sort of way, that could be the possible definition of unsatisfied.
Yes, the more I consider this, the more I think these two word definitions are directly linked to expectations…
But what the hell do I know? 😉
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If satisfied is +1 and dissatisfied is -1, then I’d plunk unsatisfied right in the middle at zero. I think of hopeful, unhopeful, and hopeless the same way.
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Interesting…thank you! That’s a new perspective I hadn’t considered.
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These definitions make sense, though I think a lot of people use the words interchangeably. A person could be unsatisfied in their marriage and dissatisfied with a partner’s bad habit, for instance.
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It was your question the other day that has me pondering… 🙂
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How about I was unsatisfied with the last page of the book because it had been an awesome book up to that point and the ending ruined it for me. I was dissatisfied with my physical copy of my boom because the last page was missing
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There is more emotion than just dissatisfaction I think if something like that were to happen, but certainly I would also feel dissatisfied.
So does this mean dissatisfaction includes disappointment?
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Yes. I think dissatisfaction definitely includes disappointment
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