as in boredom
the state of being bored
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
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Recent Examples of ennui
All of Ibsen is there – the murderous marital ennui, the broiling rage under the bourgeois façade – but DaCosta has made one key change to the original play.
—
Ben Jureidini, Them., 22 Aug. 2025
While Glander’s characters may suffer from teenage ennui, the movie’s vivid animation inspires anything but boredom.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 14 Aug. 2025
Some researchers also felt that a certain ennui has settled over the effort to interpret quantum mechanics.
—Quanta Magazine, 8 Aug. 2025
Do marketers genuinely believe this level of ennui, fatalism and misery is good for business?
—Solitaire Townsend, Forbes.com, 5 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ennui
Ben Jureidini, Them., 22 Aug. 2025
While Glander’s characters may suffer from teenage ennui, the movie’s vivid animation inspires anything but boredom.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 14 Aug. 2025
Some researchers also felt that a certain ennui has settled over the effort to interpret quantum mechanics.
—Quanta Magazine, 8 Aug. 2025
Do marketers genuinely believe this level of ennui, fatalism and misery is good for business?
—Solitaire Townsend, Forbes.com, 5 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ennui
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ennui
boredom
Noun
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The children of this era would go on to lead the next affective era in the form of the 1960s—which in many ways were a fight against this boredom, a call to reclaim the excitement of communalism, of revolution, of queerness and chaos.—
P.E. Moskowitz
September 11,
Literary Hub,
11 Sep. 2025
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Your kid might not otherwise disclose these issues—but framing them around boredom (which is easier to talk about than, say, loneliness) can let you in on what's really going on in their day.—
Angela Haupt,
Time,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ennui.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ennui. Accessed 15 Sep. 2025.
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