Ennui
noun
A feeling of boredom, weariness or dissatisfaction with life.
He felt a deep sense of ennui, having no interest in his usual hobbies.
Often appears as...
- feel a deep ennui
- suffering from ennui
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
noun
A feeling of boredom, weariness or dissatisfaction with life.
He felt a deep sense of ennui, having no interest in his usual hobbies.
Often appears as...
- feel a deep ennui
- suffering from ennui
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
Definition 1 of 1
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Emotion
Ennui reflects a negative feeling, suggesting dissatisfaction or a lack of excitement.
The repetitive nature of his job filled him with ennui.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Just Boredom
Ennui goes beyond boredom, implying a weariness with the world or life's activities.
Wondering what more life had to offer, she was overwhelmed with ennui.
Pro Tip 3/3Literary Usage
Often used in literature to describe a character's existential dissatisfaction.
The novel's protagonist wandered the city streets, lost in ennui.
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Emotion
Ennui reflects a negative feeling, suggesting dissatisfaction or a lack of excitement.
The repetitive nature of his job filled him with ennui.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Just Boredom
Ennui goes beyond boredom, implying a weariness with the world or life's activities.
Wondering what more life had to offer, she was overwhelmed with ennui.
Pro Tip 3/3Literary Usage
Often used in literature to describe a character's existential dissatisfaction.
The novel's protagonist wandered the city streets, lost in ennui.
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Emotion
Ennui reflects a negative feeling, suggesting dissatisfaction or a lack of excitement.
The repetitive nature of his job filled him with ennui.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Just Boredom
Ennui goes beyond boredom, implying a weariness with the world or life's activities.
Wondering what more life had to offer, she was overwhelmed with ennui.
Pro Tip 3/3Literary Usage
Often used in literature to describe a character's existential dissatisfaction.
The novel's protagonist wandered the city streets, lost in ennui.
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Video examples
One woman, eight...
It was like, you know, she was there in the class, you know, she was kind of typically French. You know, she was very chic, but she was very filled with ennui, you know. And she would be there, you know, kind of talking with the class, you know, talking about the, you know, the existential futility of life, you know.
Video examples
One woman, eight...
It was like, you know, she was there in the class, you know, she was kind of typically French. You know, she was very chic, but she was very filled with ennui, you know. And she would be there, you know, kind of talking with the class, you know, talking about the, you know, the existential futility of life, you know.
Example 1 of 1
Quote examples
Julien Baker
American Musician
I don't think I'll ever get that tour ennui. Just getting to visit New York and all these different places - I'm always so excited to look at the window. I look like a crazy tourist stumbling around... 'This is beautiful.
Quote examples
T. J. Miller
American Actor
Extract' was kind of a grown up 'Office Space' in the sense of talking about the ennui of being a successful person in America if you don't have some real passion in your life for something to care about.
Quote examples
Rachel Simmons
American Author
If smart phones had been around for women in the 1950s, 'The Feminine Mystique' might never have been written. The depression and ennui of housewives would have been blunted by Pinterest and Facebook.
Quote examples
Helen Keller
American Author
It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui.
Quote examples
A. A. Gill
British Writer
People collect boredom, they hoard it, they wallow in it, hoping that one day it'll be of interest and become an effete ennui. Let me tell you, it doesn't.
Quote examples
Hilary Farr
British Designer
My point is, to emulate dead animals and their parts as decoration is pretty disgusting, and as a design statement, it also fills me with ennui.
Quote examples
Max Stirner
German Philosopher
If the child has not an object that it can occupy itself with, it feels ennui; for it does not yet know how to occupy itself with itself.
Quote examples
Steve Rushin
American Journalist
Baseball consists of a million threads of dullness, on a loom of ennui, woven into a tapestry of tedium.
Quote examples
Montesquieu
French Philosopher
To love to read is to exchange hours of ennui for hours of delight.
Quote examples
Emil Cioran
Romanian Philosopher
Life creates itself in delirium and is undone in ennui.
Quote examples
Julien Baker
American Musician
I don't think I'll ever get that tour ennui. Just getting to visit New York and all these different places - I'm always so excited to look at the window. I look like a crazy tourist stumbling around... 'This is beautiful.
Quote examples
T. J. Miller
American Actor
Extract' was kind of a grown up 'Office Space' in the sense of talking about the ennui of being a successful person in America if you don't have some real passion in your life for something to care about.
Quote examples
Rachel Simmons
American Author
If smart phones had been around for women in the 1950s, 'The Feminine Mystique' might never have been written. The depression and ennui of housewives would have been blunted by Pinterest and Facebook.
Quote examples
Helen Keller
American Author
It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui.
Quote examples
A. A. Gill
British Writer
People collect boredom, they hoard it, they wallow in it, hoping that one day it'll be of interest and become an effete ennui. Let me tell you, it doesn't.
Quote examples
Hilary Farr
British Designer
My point is, to emulate dead animals and their parts as decoration is pretty disgusting, and as a design statement, it also fills me with ennui.
Quote examples
Max Stirner
German Philosopher
If the child has not an object that it can occupy itself with, it feels ennui; for it does not yet know how to occupy itself with itself.
Quote examples
Steve Rushin
American Journalist
Baseball consists of a million threads of dullness, on a loom of ennui, woven into a tapestry of tedium.
Quote examples
Montesquieu
French Philosopher
To love to read is to exchange hours of ennui for hours of delight.
Quote examples
Emil Cioran
Romanian Philosopher
Life creates itself in delirium and is undone in ennui.
Example 1 of 10
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