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

Explanation

A person who feels alone and anxious because there doesn't seem to be anyone in charge of keeping order, feels a sense of anomie. Anomie comes from the Greek anomos meaning "lawless," so anomie means a lack of moral standards, or a sense of lawlessness, or sometimes the anxiety that comes from being in a lawless place. In the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, the narrator doesn't react like a normal person. When his mother dies and he is put on trial for murdering a man, he responds in an oddly numb way, expressing a sense of anomie.

Example Sentences

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

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025

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 • Jun. 3, 2025

In the U.S., car crash rates and pedestrian fatalities have recently erupted; potential culprits include “car bloat,” smartphones, COVID-related anomie, and the automatic transmission, which frees up motorists’ hands to, say, use TikTok.

From Slate • May 25, 2024

But there is enough space, even within this anomie, to work together to carve out new understandings of gender, and reimagine the relationship between men and women.

From Salon • Jun. 20, 2023

She was there for your first crushes and heartbreaks, your party dresses and spins at sophisticated states like anomie.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides