ennui

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Definitions (5)

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  1. noun Listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest; boredom: "The servants relieved their ennui with gambling and gossip about their masters” (John Barth).
  2. Word History
    Were they alive today, users of Classical Latin might be surprised to find that centuries later a phrase of theirs still survives, although as a single word. The phrase mihi in odiō est (literally translated as "to me in a condition of dislike or hatred is”), meaning "I hate or dislike,” gave rise to the Vulgar Latin verb *inodiāre, "to make odious,” the source of the Old French verb ennuyer or anoier, "to annoy, bore.” This was borrowed into English by around 1275 as anoien, our annoy. From the Old French verb a noun meaning "worry, boredom” was derived, which became ennui in modern French. This noun, with the sense "boredom,” was borrowed into English in the 18th century, perhaps filling a need in polite, cultivated society.

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Examples

  • I am charmed with a country where you do not fear ennui, and you will be wise if you think of nobody but yourself, not that the principle is false with you: that you can no longer please others. —  Ninon de L'Enclos the Celebrated Beauty of the 17th Century
  • It may have been that his health became worse; or it may be that, like to many men who are idle and make no effort to work, he became annoyed at the ennui which is so often the result of an unoccupied life. —  Life And Letters Of John Gay (1685-1732)
  • Remember that occupation will infallibly expel the fiend ennui, and that solitude is the bug-bear of fools. —  Memoirs of Aaron Burr
  • For cards, conversation, tobacco, yarns and the bar make up boat life; it being rare, indeed, that the ennui is attacked from the barricade of a book. —  Four Years in Rebel Capitals An Inside View of Life in the Southern Confederacy from Birth to Death
  • His Lordship — if Lordship he is — is stranded in an inn overcome with ennui, and must be amused. —  Richard Carvel
 

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Ennui has been looked up 1219 times, favorited 31 times, listed 308 times, and commented on 15 times.

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French, from Old French enui, from ennuyer, to annoy, bore; see annoy.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. French, the modern form of Old French enui, older anoi, later English annoy: see annoy, n.
 

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/ɑnˈnwi/
by Éamonn McManus
by American Heritage

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