ennui

noun

en·nui ˌän-ˈwē

Synonyms of ennui next

: a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction : boredom

Did you know?

The French loanword ennui comes from the very same Late Latin word that gave us annoy — inodiare ("to make loathsome"). We borrowed ennui several centuries after absorbing annoy into the language. Ennui deals more with boredom than irritation - and a somewhat specific sort of boredom at that. It generally refers to the feeling of jadedness that can result from living a life of too much ease. The poet Charles Lloyd described it well in his 1823 Stanzas to Ennui when he referred to that world-weary sensation as a "soul-destroying fiend" which visits with its "pale unrest / The chambers of the human breast / Where too much happiness hath fixed its home."

Examples of ennui in a Sentence

When the antiproton was discovered … it sent a wave of ennui through the physics community. Not that its discovery was unimportant, but on the basis of Dirac's theory, everybody expected it. —

Roger G. Newton, The Truth of Science, 1997

Chauncey and I were keen enough about our aesthetic solution to the ennui of war to try to proselytize others. He organized discussion groups with the crew; I took volunteers to visit landmarks … —

Louis Auchincloss, "Atlantic War," in Authors at Sea, ed. Robert Shenk, 1997

The attendant outside was standing on tennis balls, exercising the soles of her feet, her body swaying back and forth with the ennui of jelly. —

Edna O'Brien, New Yorker, 17 June 1991

Thus the days of life are consumed, one by one, without an object beyond the present moment; ever flying from the ennui of that, yet carrying it with us … —

Thomas Jefferson, in a letter dated 7 Feb. 1787 Thomas Jefferson: Writings, 1984

the kind of ennui that comes from having too much time on one's hands and too little will to find something productive to do

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

In many ways, the persona of Ballerina Farm has become an outlet for the stress, ennui, and dissatisfaction of American motherhood. —

Stephanie McNeal, Glamour, 5 Dec. 2024 All that’s a recipe for ennui, compared with the overtly sinister way Orlok behaves toward his guest — and later, anyone who stands in the way of his reunion with Thomas’ wife, Ellen (Depp). —

Peter Debruge, Variety, 2 Dec. 2024 As someone who doesn’t even want to be in showbiz, Milhouse’s ennui is palpable. —

Bethy Squires, Vulture, 22 Nov. 2024 But her unorthodox approach both alienates and entrances those around her in the latest delicate comedy from Hong, where characters booze and smoke their way through their ennui without ever succumbing to soul-crushing misanthropy. —

Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 23 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for ennui