Although these two words seem the same, they are not.
Unsatisfied means “not satisfied” or “not entirely fulfilled,” while dissatisfied means “anti-satisfied,” i.e., far from satisfied, unhappy:
Although I am impressed with the work so far, I am still unsatisfied.
This means that I have a positive feeling about the work, but I still want more. In contrast:
Although the meal was small, I was not dissatisfied.
This means that although the meal may not have filled me up, I was not unhappy with it.
Because unsatisfied means “not fulfilled,” it can refer to the conditions of inanimate objects:
We must work more because our quota was unsatisfied.
In contrast, dissatisfied can only be used to describe a living thing’s emotions. In reference to emotions, unsatisfied means “a lack of the emotion satisfied,” while dissatisfied indicates a more negative feeling.
More Examples of Using "Dissatisfied" in a Sentence
- The company's stock prices are down, and shareholders are dissatisfied with Board’s overall performance.
- Another dissatisfied customer wanted to speak to a manager, but was told to call the company's customer service line for again.
- Dissatisfied with how the interview went, Roxanne withdrew her résumé from consideration.
- Rhonda was dissatisfied with her life routine, so she left everything behind and moved to a brand new city.
- The sales manager is dissatisfied that the team's performance is not as good as it was last year, but at least she sympathized with the difficulties of a sudden change to the work environment.
More Examples of Using "Unsatisfied" in a Sentence
- I'm unsatisfied with my job, my relationships, and my whole living situation—I think I need to start over in a new town.
- The unsatisfied customer returned the merchandise for a full refund, even though it was still in good condition.
- Senator Jones was unsatisfied with his and his team’s fundraising performance.
- Unsatisfied with the small number of homes available, Greg and Tom began to look for alternatives, including townhomes, condos, and apartments.