anomie

noun

an·​o·​mie ˈa-nə-mē 

variants or less commonly anomy

: social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values

The reforms of a ruined economy, under these conditions, brought about social anomie, desperation and poverty rather than relief and prosperity.

—T. Mastnak

also : personal unrest, alienation, and uncertainty that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals

In the face of these prevailing values, many workers experience a kind of anomie. Their jobs become empty, meaningless, and intrinsically unsatisfying.

—Robert Straus

anomic

ə-ˈnä-mik  -ˈnō- 

adjective

Examples of anomie in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Jocelyn, slipping into a state of agitated anomie, has trouble running the fights satisfactorily, giving rise to a gangland conflict of deadly menace. Dah, witnessing Jocelyn’s gradual emotional and moral disintegration, resorts to increasingly desperate measures to hold up their end of the deal. —Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 23 July 2024

Durkheim argued that anomie was a major driver of suicide rates in European countries. —Jonathan Haidt, The Atlantic, 13 Mar. 2024

But China’s anomie is also a crisis of national identity. —Rana Mitter, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024

China’s sense of anomie is also sociological, however, especially for young people. —Rana Mitter, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French anomie, borrowed from Greek anomía "lawlessness," from ánomos "lawless, unlawful, without laws" (from a- a- entry 2 + -nomos, adjective derivative of nómos "custom, convention, law," noun derivative of némein "to pasture [animals], rule, direct, distribute, apportion") + -ia -y entry 2 — more at nimble

Note: As a philosophical and sociological term French anomie was introduced by the philosopher Jean-Marie Guyau (1854-88) in Esquisse d'une morale sans obligation ni sanction (Paris, 1885), p. 230: "C'est l'absence de loi fixe, qu'on peut désigner sous le terme d'anomie pour l'opposer à l'autonomie des Kantiens." ("It is the absence of fixed law, which can fall under the term anomie in order to oppose it to the autonomy of the Kantians [followers of Immanuel kant].") The term later became closely associated with the French sociologist Émile durkheim, who used it in De la division du travail social (1893) and Le suicide (1897).

First Known Use

1933, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

anomie

noun

an·​o·​mie

variants also anomy

ˈan-ə-mē 

: social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values

also : personal unrest, alienation, and anxiety that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals