malaise

Noun

malaise (countable and uncountable, plural malaises)

1. A feeling of general bodily discomfort, fatigue or unpleasantness, often at the onset of illness.
   • Addressing tech malaise has become a trend with authors and self-help coaches – such as Catherine Price, author of How to Break Up With Your Phone, who, during a $295, 50-minute phone call, will offer you advice on things like how to create roadblocks to checking your phone by putting a rubber band...2019 August 21, Adrienne Matei, “Shock! Horror! Do you know how much time you spend on your phone?”, in The Guardian
   • Volkswagen’s travails are symbolic of the nation’s overall economic malaise and a political crisis that collapsed the government in December, paving the way for early elections Feb. 23.2025 January 27, Lenora Chu, “How Volkswagen slid from German engineering icon to innovation laggard”, in The Christian Science Monitor

   Synonyms:

   unease, doldrums, ill at ease

2. An ambiguous feeling of mental or moral depression.
   • Their failure helped produce the widespread malaise reported by Thucydides: the Athenians "grieved over their private sufferings, the common people because, having started out with less, they were deprived even of that; the rich had lost their beautiful estates in the country, the houses as well as...2003, Donald Kagan, The Peloponnesian War

   Synonyms:

   melancholy, weltschmerz, angst

3. Ill will or hurtful feelings for others or someone.