weltschmerz

Noun capitalized: Weltschmerz

Weltschmerz (uncountable)

1. An apathetic or pessimistic view of life; depression concerning or discomfort with the human condition or state of the world; mal du siècle, world-weariness.
   • And in this respect [Ludwig] Uhland presents a marked and useful contrast to the lackadaisical, sentimental, Weltschmerz school, the poets of which trade on their own pretended misery, and, cunningly enough, suggest that their poems must be touching and true in proportion as the authors set...1864 July, “Art. II. 1. Gedichte von Ludwig Uhland. 4th Edition, with Preface by Dr. Holland. […] [book review]”, in John Taylor Coleridge, editor, The Quarterly Review, volume 116, number 231...
   • [page 118] It speaks well for the general healthiness of the English nation that we have no words corresponding to ‘Weltschmerz’ or ‘Ennui’. The ordinary Englishman experiences neither of these things. […] [page 119] Weltschmerz is a species of disease, a sort of spiritual measles—or to give a more...[1891 Michaelmas term, T. A. B., “Weltschmerz”, in The Caian: The Magazine of Gonville and Caius College, volume I, number 2, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: [J. and C. F. Clay, at the University Press...

   Synonyms:

   acedia, ennui