Word of the Day – Ennui

Ennui (noun)

on-wi

A feeling of listlessness or dissatisfaction arising from a lack of excitement or occupation of the mind.

I love this word, from French, from the Latin odio from ‘mihi in odio est’ or ‘it is hateful to me’. This is a great one to use if you hate the word ‘bored’ and people who use it! First learned from reading, it took me a while to be able to pronounce ennui, and it’s today’s word of the day.

Example sentence

“With the nearest city more than 20 miles away, 15-year-old Jane soon succumbed to ennui and despair on her weekend in the countryside”