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.
An antidote to August ennui: When Byard Duncan began to feel the creep of a midlife crisis, he realized that desperate times call for farcical measures.
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026
PARIS—This time last summer, Tadej Pogacar was overcome by ennui.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 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
Never explicitly, “All We Imagine as Light,” a miraculously subtle piece of work, poses all of the questions above, spreading a luxuriant, hypnotic ennui.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2024
I knew she looked just like her parents—lanky, washed-out, lipless—and that when she spoke to them they answered her in the same even, lowing rhythm of ennui and supremacy she lorded over us.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
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.
