Skip to content

malcontent

noun

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L323564 on Wikidata ↗

adjective

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L338254 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈmal.kən.tɛnt/ / /ˈmæl.kənˌtɛnt/ / /ˌmæl.kənˈtɛnt/

adj

Etymology: From Middle French malcontent, from mal- + content; compare Late Latin malecontentus.

  1. Dissatisfied with current conditions; disaffected, discontented, rebellious.

    [Alban] Butler also commends the piety of Simon Montfort, the persecutor of the Albigenses, and the father of the famous malcontent earl of Leicester, who flourished in the reign of king Henry III.

    The duke of Gloucester was a sickly child […] he died of a sore throat, and rash fever, occasioned by an imprudent participation in the festivities of his birthday. The famous humourist, Dr. [John] Radcliffe, the Abernethy of his day, who was malcontent with the government, was called in too late, he declared, to save his royal patient.

noun

Etymology: From Middle French malcontent, from mal- + content; compare Late Latin malecontentus.

  1. A person who is not satisfied with current conditions; a discontented person, a rebel.

    The diſcord rather than the muſick is heard from the malcontent Malevole's chamber.

    For is it not eaſy to ſee, that a Prince made odious and contemptible, will ſoon be removed from his Throne, when it is in the Power of the Malecontents to bring about ſuch a fatal Revolution?

  2. A state of discontentment or dissatisfaction; something that causes discontent.

    If there was malcontent on his part, it did not spring from economic limitations alone, but also from the effect of these economic limitations upon his social and legal status as a small farmer. The state of constant indebtdness in which the contadino found himself contributed to his malcontent.

verb

Etymology: From Middle French malcontent, from mal- + content; compare Late Latin malecontentus.

  1. To cause discontent or dissatisfaction.

    […] James Bond adventure with a Ward Bond delivery, reams of malcontenting and anti-literary remarks, first-class manipulation of Anglo-Saxon's juicier words, and quotations from the Great Books and from William Kite's notebook.