dysfunction

English

Alternative forms

• disfunction (nonstandard)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dews-?

Proto-Indo-European *dus-

Proto-Hellenic *dus-

Ancient Greek δῠσ- (dŭs-)der.

New Latin dys-der.

English dys-

Old French fonction

Middle French functionbor.

English function

English dysfunction

From dys- + function.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪsˈfʌŋk.ʃən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

dysfunction (countable and uncountable, plural dysfunctions)

1. (chiefly medicine) A failure to function in an expected or complete manner. Usually refers to a disorder in a bodily organ (e.g. erectile dysfunction), a mental disorder, or the improper behavior of a social group.

   Antonyms: eufunction, function

   • 2004, Johnny D. Hoskins, Geriatrics and Gerontology of the Dog and Cat, →ISBN, page 358:

     Cerebellar dysfunction is characterized by truncal ataxia, a broad-based stance, dysmetria in which the limbs either overstep (hypermetria) or understep (hypometria), and tremor that is most pronounced when the animal attempts a goal-orientated movement (intention tremor).

   • 2005, Dwight Evans, Dennis S. Charney, Lydia Lewis, The Physician’s Guide to Depression and Bipolar Disorders, →ISBN, page 69:

     We next consider the cognification of interpersonal dysfunctions in treating clinical depression.

Derived terms

• cognitive dysfunction syndrome
• dysfunctional
• dysfunctionally
• Eustachian tube dysfunction
• immunodysfunction
• minimal brain dysfunction
• neurodysfunction
• post-retinoid sexual dysfunction
• post-SSRI sexual dysfunction
• sexual dysfunction
• temporomandibular joint dysfunction

Translations

failure to function

• Catalan: disfunció f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 功能障礙 / 功能障碍 (gōngnéng zhàng'ài)

• Czech: dysfunkce (cs) f
• Danish: dysfunktion c, funktionsforstyrrelse c, funktionssvigt n
• Dutch: disfunctie (nl) f
• Finnish: toimintahäiriö
• French: dysfonctionnement (fr) m, dysfonction (fr) f
• Georgian: დისფუნქცია (dispunkcia)
• German: Fehlfunktion f, Dysfunktion (de) f
• Greek: δυσλειτουργία (el) f (dysleitourgía)
• Indonesian: disfungsi (id)
• Italian: disfunzione (it) f
• Japanese: 機能不全 (ja) (きのうふぜん, kinōfuzen)
• Malay: disfungsi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: dysfunksjon m

  Nynorsk: dysfunksjon m

• Polish: dysfunkcja (pl) f
• Portuguese: disfunção (pt)
• Russian: дисфу́нкция (ru) f (disfúnkcija)
• Spanish: disfunción (es) f
• Swedish: dysfunktion c
• Ukrainian: дисфу́нкція f (dysfúnkcija)

Verb

dysfunction (third-person singular simple present dysfunctions, present participle dysfunctioning, simple past and past participle dysfunctioned)

1. (nonstandard, intransitive, chiefly biology) To fail to function correctly; to malfunction.