malaise

American  

[ma-leyz, -muh-, ma-lez] / mæˈleɪz, -mə-, maˈlɛz /

noun

malaises plural

1. a condition of general bodily weakness or discomfort, often marking the onset of a disease.

2. a vague or unfocused feeling of mental uneasiness, lethargy, or discomfort.

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malaise British  

/ mæˈleɪz /

noun

1. a feeling of unease or depression

2. a mild sickness, not symptomatic of any disease or ailment

3. a complex of problems affecting a country, economy, etc

   Bulgaria's economic malaise

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• malaises
  plural

Etymology

Origin of malaise

First recorded in 1760–70; from French, Old French, equivalent to mal- + ease

Explanation

If you are experiencing malaise, chances are you are feeling blue or looking green. Malaise is a slump; you're not feeling your best — either mentally or physically. Mal is French for "bad," and aise means "ease." When experiencing malaise, ease yourself down on the couch to recover. Malaise is frequently used figuratively to describe slumps that other things go through as well. The 20-year economic malaise in Japan is one example, but you'll also hear of educational malaise, political malaise, and even "a general malaise." Wherever you turn, there's malaise.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

malaise malaises

The early exit confirmed a malaise that has lingered since Germany lifted the World Cup in 2014.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

The departing Greater Manchester mayor presented a diagnosis of what has caused economic malaise, rooted in his own experiences running the city and when he was previously in Cabinet.

From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026

Amid a historic surge in chip stocks and a continued malaise in software, the equities market has seemed to totally forget the Mag Seven, Empower’s Chief Investment Strategist Marta Norton told Barron’s this week.

From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026

This seemed to be a moment of malaise for Spielberg, one he worked his way out of with an unpredictably wide-ranging series of films including “Lincoln,” “Bridge of Spies” and “The Post.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026

Fronted by a lush lawn and palm trees, the Union Passenger Terminal had opened in 1954, an art deco-style building once aspiring to grandness but since overtaken by a certain grey municipal malaise.

From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers

For these two analysts, the key to overcoming the malaises of social alienation have nothing whatsoever to do with catching up, getting even with, or hating one’s enemies, adversaries, abusers, oppressors, and so on.

From Salon ● Feb. 10, 2024

Rather, the key to overcoming the malaises of alienation is about changing the social conditions or epidemiology of this alienation and moving societies beyond common indignities, gross inequities, and identity politics.

From Salon ● Feb. 10, 2024

But despite her placidity, Poplavskaya has leapfrogged to prominence in recent years, profiting from the malaises or caprices of others.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 9, 2011

When Prime Minister Harold Wilson and the Social ists took power late in 1964, the pound was in one of its deeper malaises.

From Time Magazine Archive

And they will add that Thackeray, another man of genius, had also his malaises of art, was likewise a man with the mortal failings implied in the word.

From Masters of the English Novel A Study of Principles and Personalities by Burton, Richard

Related Words

• angst
• anxiety
• despair
• discomfort
• disquiet
• doldrums
• illness
• pain
• unease
• uneasiness
• weakness