Weltschmerz
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of Weltschmerz
First recorded in 1860–65; literally, “world-pain,” from Welt world ( def. ) + Schmerz “pain”; smart ( def. ) (in the sense “pain”)
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.
It’s a sure cure for any lingering Weltschmerz.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 24, 2025
This is even more surprising, given that what the German novelist Jean Paul christened Weltschmerz has seemingly been in steady decline for the last 10 years.
From The Guardian • Feb. 3, 2016
The crass Buck is less interested in discussing Tony’s sudden bout of Weltschmerz than he is in ushering him off to the Japanese restaurant where their dates await.
From New York Times • Dec. 6, 2011
London was full of Weltschmerz and fashionable reliance on canned Freud and Frazer.
From Time Magazine Archive
Hölderlin's Weltschmerz is altogether the most naïve of the three; Lenau's, while it still remains sincere, becomes self-conscious, while Heine has an unfailing antidote for profound feeling in his merciless self-irony.
From Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry by Braun, Wilhelm Alfred
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.
