disgruntled

adjective

dis·​grun·​tled dis-ˈgrən-tᵊld 

: unhappy and annoyed

a disgruntled employee

She led her sodden and disgruntled team back into the changing rooms, insisting that the practice had not been a waste of time, though without any real conviction in her voice.

—J. K. Rowling

… a $300,000 refund pool for disgruntled former customers …

—Kevin McGurk

The crowd was up as well, and just as disgruntled as it had been the night before.

—Christopher Cooper & Robert Block

Synonyms of disgruntled

• dissatisfied
• frustrated

Examples of disgruntled in a Sentence

a disgruntled postal worker was responsible for the vandalism

Recent Examples on the Web

As a disgruntled Comcast cable TV subscriber who downgraded from the Ultimate tier after the end of last season, this was great news. —Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 18 Mar. 2026

Riley Green was left bleeding after a disgruntled fan threw a phone at him onstage. —Christina Dugan Ramirez, FOXNews.com, 16 Mar. 2026

Vegas was acquiring two first-round picks from Baltimore in the deal, on top of trading away an expensive and disgruntled player who no longer wanted to play in Sin City. —Pat Leonard, Mercury News, 11 Mar. 2026

Random shots of fans around the arena during Saturday’s loss showed long, disgruntled faces. —Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

from past participle of disgruntle

First Known Use

1830, in the meaning defined above