dysfunctional

adjective

dys·func·tion·al (ˌ)dis-ˈfəŋ(k)-sh(ə-)nəl

: characterized by or exhibiting dysfunction: such as

: not functioning properly : marked by impaired or abnormal functioning

With 180,000 employees and a $43 billion budget, the department is a collage of 22 distinct government agencies drawn from different corners of the federal organization chart and glued together into a single, largely dysfunctional unit.—

Paul C. Light

This form of anemia develops because the bone marrow is not producing new cells rapidly enough to replace old cells that have become destroyed or otherwise dysfunctional.—

Tom Ewing

This led to a dysfunctional credit market that in important respects soon turned non-functional.—

Warren E. Buffett

: characterized by abnormal or unhealthy interpersonal behavior or interaction

dysfunctional relationships

As with any dysfunctional family, it may take an outsider to get a clear picture of the situation.—

Chris Mooney

Did you know?

Dysfunctional and dysfunction have been used for almost a hundred years, often in medical writing ("brain dysfunction", "a dysfunctional liver") but also by social scientists ("a dysfunctional city council", "diplomatic dysfunction"). But they only really entered the general vocabulary in the 1980s, when therapists and talk-show hosts began talking about dysfunctional families. The signs of family dysfunction turned out to be numerous, and it soon began to seem as if pretty much all our families could be called dysfunctional.

Examples of dysfunctional in a Sentence

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The show is a bit of a time capsule now—maybe even a period drama—but Skins’s issues remain potent: characters lost their virginities, dealt with parents’ divorces and affairs, battled eating disorders and substance abuse, shoplifted, fought, raved, and found dysfunctional, die-hard friendships. —

Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 31 Jan. 2025 But in recent years, the Giants always had dysfunctional Washington sitting there, happy to get beaten once or twice a year while toiling in controversy and/or irrelevance. —

Pat Leonard, New York Daily News, 28 Jan. 2025 Their dysfunctional defense surrendered the NFL’s third-most yards and its sixth-most points in their first two games. —

Brooks Kubena, The Athletic, 24 Jan. 2025 The dysfunctional staff Bill Belichick stitched together around Bill O’Brien followed and sank them both in 2023? —

Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 23 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for dysfunctional