Weltschmerz (noun) (German)
velt-shmurts
From German, translates literally as ‘World Pain’
Reading the news it feels like the end of the world, so I was struck by a Guardian newspaper article this week, telling us why we should dust off the word Weltschmerz, literally ‘world pain’. Unlike ennui, or angst, weltschmerz encapsulates the idea of being sad but not because you have failed, but because the world could be better.
Example Sentence using Word of the Day
“As I digested the front pages in the newsagents I was struck by an overwhelming sense of weltschmerz.”
Too apt.