ennui means A gripping listlessness or melancholia caused by boredom; depression. It carries an Arena rating of 1514, earned across 4 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, ennui ranks #1,907 of 14,414 for Most Elegant Words, #2,350 of 14,448 for Most Incisive Words, #2,574 of 14,448 for Funniest Words, #2,743 of 14,440 for Most Satisfying to Say.
ennui is pronounced /ɒnˈwiː/.
Why “ennui” is a great word
A profound and wearisome discontent arising from a lack of interest or excitement, a melancholic boredom that permeates the soul. From French *ennui*, from Old French *enui* (“annoyance, vexation”), a back-formation from *enoiier*, *anuier* (“to annoy, bore”), of uncertain ultimate origin, possibly from a hypothetical Vulgar Latin phrase *in odio* (“hateful”); first recorded in English use in the 1660s. Unlike “boredom,” a general and transient state of being unoccupied, or “apathy,” a hollow absence of feeling, ennui is a conscious, felt dissatisfaction, a world-weary restlessness. It is the stale taste left after the last possible distraction has been sampled, the heavy silence that falls when the clock’s ticking grows too loud to ignore, the dust gathering on a sunlit windowsill in a room no one enters—the exquisite agony of being utterly, meaninglessly free.
noun
- A gripping listlessness or melancholia caused by boredom; depression.“There have always been individuals who toy with the political extremes out of a sort of high-class ennui.”
verb
- To make bored or listless; to weary.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- tedium 87% match — Boredom or tediousness; ennui. vs ennui →
- tristesse 86% match — sadness vs ennui →
- lassitude 86% match — Lethargy or lack of energy; fatigue, languor, listlessness vs ennui →
- acedia 85% match — Spiritual or mental sloth and the feeling it provokes; apathy or indifference; a lack of care or interest and the resultant avoidance of duties; a bored melancholy leading to desperation, restlessness and anxiety. vs ennui →
- malaise 85% match — A feeling of general bodily discomfort, fatigue or unpleasantness, often at the onset of illness. vs ennui →
- accidie 85% match — Sloth, slothfulness, especially as inducing general listlessness and apathy. vs ennui →
- lethargy 85% match — A state of extreme torpor, sopor or apathy, especially with lack of emotion, energy or enthusiasm; (loosely) sluggishness, laziness. vs ennui →
- dreariness 85% match — The characteristic of being dreary. vs ennui →