Meanings
maladjusted1
- participlepastsimple past and past participle of maladjust
maladjusted2
comparative more maladjusted · superlative most maladjusted
- Adjusted badly or wrongly.
In practice, the most frequently encountered problems relate to maladjusted monitors, which affect the display of images, […]
2019, R. Brad Abrahams, Walter Huda, William F Sensakovic, Imaging Physics Case Review E-Book, page 318 - Badly adjusted to the demands and stresses of daily living; unable to cope.
2 more examples
Throughout my career as a music journalist, I've often found myself sharing the same orbit as some of the more maladjusted talents of the late 20th century, but nothing could have prepared me for the time I spent with Serge Gainsbourg, the louche, turtle-eyed genius of la chanson Française, little more than two years before his death.
2006 April 15, Nick Kent, “What a drag”, in The Guardian, →ISSNBefore he died, James Halliday (Mark Rylance), the hermit-like, socially maladjusted tech genius who created The Oasis, hid an Easter egg somewhere in the circuitry, scattering bread crumbs that lead to its location. Find the egg, and the mogul’s fortune—along with total control of his digital fiefdom—is yours. It’s the ultimate capitalist scavenger hunt!
2018 March 26, A. A. Dowd, “Steven Spielberg Finds Fun, and maybe even a Soul, in the Pandering Pastiche of Ready Player One”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 31 May 2018
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivepoorly adjusted to demands and stresses of daily living
adjectiveemotionally unstable and having difficulty coping with personal relationships
adjectivenot well adjusted
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
maladjusted · verb
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Full word history & related roots →maladjusted · adjective
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)mel-
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)molos?
- Proto-Italic*malos
- Latinmalus
- Latinmale
- Old Frenchmal-
- Englishmal-
- Englishadjusted
- Englishmaladjusted
Translations
Bulgarian неприспособен
- неприспособен (neprisposoben)Badly adjusted, unable to cope
Spanish inadaptado
- inadaptadoBadly adjusted, unable to cope
Cite this entry
maladjusted. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/maladjusted
“maladjusted.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/maladjusted. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “maladjusted,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/maladjusted.
Source: maladjusted on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.