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Ennui vs Weltschmerz - What's the difference?

ennui | weltschmerz |

Weltschmerz is a synonym of ennui.



As nouns the difference between ennui and weltschmerz

is that ennui is a gripping listlessness or melancholia caused by boredom; depression while weltschmerz is world-weariness; an apathetic or pessimistic view of life; depression concerning or discomfort with the human condition or state of the world.

ennui

English

Noun

(-)
  • A gripping listlessness or melancholia caused by boredom; depression.

    • Synonyms

    * (l) * (l) * (l)

    Quotations

    * (English Citations of "ennui")

    weltschmerz

    English

    Noun

    (-)
  • (sometimes, capitalized) World-weariness; an apathetic or pessimistic view of life; depression concerning or discomfort with the human condition or state of the world.
  • * 1938 , W.S. Heckscher, “ ‘Was This the Face…?’” in the Journal of the (Warburg Institute) I, ? 4 (April 1938), page 297:
    • Here we have it at once, blended though it may be with the new elements of purging humour and all-embracing Weltschmerz'' , in Shakespeare’s ''Hamlet .
  • * 1947 , " Art: Berlin's Best," Time , 28 Apr.:
    • Koerner's painting did have the heaviness, the harsh humor and the all-pervading weltschmerz which characterized German expressionism in the 1920s.
  • * 1973 , , Gravity's Rainbow :
    • A man-to-man touch then on his buttoned epaulet. A middle-aged smile full of Weltschmerz .

    Synonyms

    * (l) * (l)

    See also

    * weight of the world English abstract nouns