ennui

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“
That is too close to ennui, which is his greatest dread.

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  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 (50)

  • I am looking forward to frivolity, ennui, and passion from you. —  GotPoetry.com News
  • Symbolic of the Anglican ennui is the absence of many outside lobbyists from Alexandria. —  Anglican Mainstream
  • "I've always felt that the people who describe Antonioni's movies as being about ennui, anomie, and alienation are ... not wrong, exactly, but largely missing the point," writes —  GreenCine Daily
  • Undaunted by our leader's ennui, the group crowded into a stairwell off the adjacent parking garage and descended several flights, our skin growing clammier with every step.
  • Perhaps he's a nebbish in a lab coat who suffers the same angst, ennui, and heartache a lot of us feel. —  Rate Your Students
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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 American Heritage
by Éamonn McManus

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