ennui
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does ennui mean? Put simply, ennui is a French word that describes feelings associated with boredom.
Etymology
Origin of ennui
First recorded in 1660–70; from French: “boredom”; Old French a(n)nui, enui “displeasure”; see annoy
Explanation
The French word ennui describes a feeling that combines tiredness and boredom. Ennui is one version of "the blahs." Though it sounds a little fancy — maybe because it comes from French — ennui is a common feeling that everybody experiences: being bored and tired. School and work fill lots of people with ennui. A terrible TV show could create ennui. If you feel like your life is going nowhere, ennui could set in. When you're feeling ennui, you might as well take a nap, because you're too drowsy and uninterested to do much of anything else.
Vocabulary lists containing ennui
"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
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100 Words to Make You Sound Smart
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Frankenstein
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Directed by André Gregory, the writer’s latest sees a four-person cast delivering long passages that together tell a familiar story of love, ennui and adultery.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026
We kept joking that we rescued the press from the Free Table — but at this point, it feels more accurate to say it rescued us from dinner ennui.
From Salon • Aug. 19, 2025
This is where body horror comes in to turn our fear of mortality, or perhaps just ennui, into something, well, horrific.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 7, 2025
This is not about identity politics but ennui: Even minuscule choices, like what socks to wear, are part of a larger cultural self-definition and viral conversation.
From Slate • Aug. 3, 2024
He was full of ennui, full of misery, full of death; there was nothing left in the world that could attract him, that could give him pleasure and solace.
From "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
