unfulfilling

adjective

un·​ful·​fill·​ing ˌən-fu̇(l)-ˈfi-liŋ 

 also  -fə(l)-

: not providing happiness or satisfaction : not fulfilling

an unfulfilling job/relationship

Examples of unfulfilling in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Some of the turnaround may be a result of the ways work has increasingly become uncertain and difficult for workers, let alone unrewarding and unfulfilling. —Adia Harvey Wingfield, Forbes.com, 16 June 2025

Segarra plays Raymond, a married man who's also in an unfulfilling relationship with Devon. 07 of 08 Felix Solis as Jose Felix Solis has been a regular presence in film and on TV since the mid-90s. —Randall Colburn, EW.com, 22 May 2025

The bond these women form becomes a strange, hallucinatory routine as Laura starts life anew after the car accident seems to have spared her, though violently, from an unfulfilling relationship with her boyfriend. —Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 20 May 2025

Picture yourself smiling spontaneously, not because anything particular happened, but because the background anxiety of an unfulfilling relationship has lifted. —Anna Pulley, Chicago Tribune, 30 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1822, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for unfulfilling

• backfilling
• distilling
• fulfilling
• infilling
• instilling
• refilling
• sawmilling
• unwilling
• billing
• chilling
• drilling
• filling