Maladjust

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Failing to adjust appropriately to social or environmental demands
2. Exhibiting behavior that is not well adapted to one’s surroundings or circumstances
3. Struggling with personal adaptation in ways that hinder effective functioning in society

Etymology: "Maladjust" is a straightforward formation: the prefix "mal-", from Latin "malus" meaning "bad" or "ill", joined to "adjust". "Adjust" itself comes through Middle English and Old French from Latin "adjustare," a combination of "ad-" (to) and "justus" (fair, right, proper), so the underlying sense is "to make right or proper." Put together, the verb means something like "to make poorly fitted," and the word's use in the sense given here, of struggling to adapt personally in ways that impair functioning in society, follows naturally from that literal sense of a badly fitted part.

Synonyms: misadjust, disadjust

Antonyms: adjust, acclimate