Settled into a state of sulky dissatisfaction and discontent..
Settled into a state of sulky dissatisfaction and discontent.
Disgruntled is the deepest-rooted and most settled feeling of this group: not a momentary sting but a state of sulky dissatisfaction (Etymonline), "unhappy and annoyed" (Merriam-Webster), a standing grievance rather than a flash of pique. Its near neighbors are "dissatisfied" and "frustrated" rather than peeved or nettled, and the discontent it names is usually grounded in some legitimate-feeling cause — pay, treatment, a broken promise — which lends it more weight and duration than the lighter words while still falling short of full anger or resentment. It collocates famously with "employee," "worker," "fans," and "former customers," carrying a slightly grumbling, brooding tone. Register is neutral and widely usable; unlike huffy or peeved it is not comic but matter-of-fact.
Past-participle adjective "thrown into a state of sulky dissatisfaction," 1680s, from the verb disgruntle "disappoint, offend, throw into a state of sulky dissatisfaction." The dis- here probably means "entirely, very," intensifying obsolete "gruntle" (to grumble, utter a low grunt; Middle English gruntelen, early 15c.), a frequentative of "grunt." Merriam-Webster dates the adjective to 1830.
The meaning has been stable since the late 17th century, holding to "sulky dissatisfaction." A notable later twist: the verb "gruntle" was back-formed in 1938 to mean "pleased, satisfied," jokingly treating dis- as a negative prefix, though the original "gruntle" had meant "to grumble." In U.S. usage the collocation "disgruntled (postal) worker" became newly salient by the late 1990s.