maladjustment

noun

mal·​ad·​just·​ment ˌma-lə-ˈjəs(t)-mənt How to pronounce maladjustment (audio)
: poor, faulty, or inadequate adjustment

Examples of maladjustment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web What the experts missed (or ignored) and parents did not was a near future in which the academic performance among a generation of students fell off a cliff — a condition compounded by a widespread crisis of psychological maladjustment in young people. Noah Rothman, National Review, 13 Dec. 2023 Some people have made news for their tremendously bad and rude behavior in public spaces, which signals a kind of sad maladjustment to living with other people. Tess Taylor, CNN, 3 June 2021 The results showed once again that early academic acceleration did not predict later maladjustment. Susan Pinker, WSJ, 17 Sep. 2020 Those include a dangerous maladjustment of mechanisms for maintaining international security and stability, regional crises, the creeping threat of terrorism and transnational crime. Jennie Neufeld, Vox, 16 July 2018 Waller-Bridge is concerned with a particularly feminine kind of maladjustment. Julia Felsenthal, Vogue, 5 Apr. 2018 But their maladjustment puts students under the immediate threat of gunfire and continues desensitizing them to injustice. Andre Perry, The Root, 9 May 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'maladjustment.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1833, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of maladjustment was in 1833

Dictionary Entries Near maladjustment

Cite this Entry

“Maladjustment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/maladjustment. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

maladjustment

noun
mal·​ad·​just·​ment ˌmal-ə-ˈjəs(t)-mənt How to pronounce maladjustment (audio)
: poor or faulty adjustment

Medical Definition

maladjustment

noun
mal·​ad·​just·​ment ˌmal-ə-ˈjəs(t)-mənt How to pronounce maladjustment (audio)
: poor, faulty, or inadequate adjustment
especially : failure to reach a satisfactory adjustment between one's desires and the conditions of one's life
emotional maladjustments
symptoms of maladjustment … in early childhood Psychological Abstracts
maladjusted adjective
maladjustive adjective
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