anomie

American  

[an-uh-mee] / ˈæn əˌmi /

Or anomy

noun

Sociology.

1. a state or condition of individuals or society characterized by a breakdown or absence of social norms and values, as in the case of uprooted people.

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anomie British  

/ ˈænəʊmɪ, əˈnɒmɪk /

noun

1. sociol lack of social or moral standards in an individual or society

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Other Word Forms

• anomic adjective

Etymology

Origin of anomie

1930–35; < French < Greek anomía lawlessness. See a- ⁶, -nomy

Example Sentences

Animation vies with anomie; the human stick figures, casting no shadows, are dwarfed by bleak urban realities.

From The Wall Street Journal

Though Santi likes to hit, perhaps just to blow off steam, he has become alienated from the game and resistant to advice — for reasons we will learn, besides the usual teenage anomie.

From Los Angeles Times

In ‘The Shards,’ Ellis melds the horror of ‘American Psycho’ with the Sherman Oaks anomie of ‘Less Than Zero.’

From Los Angeles Times

That feeling of rootlessness and discontent, of society coming unstuck — the academic term is anomie — definitely isn’t unique to this country, but it gets massively amplified by our national narcissism and our physical isolation.

From Salon

We are, in real time, witnessing an entire gender experience a phenomenon French sociologist Émile Durkheim termed "anomie".

From Salon