Angst Meaning
/ˈæŋ(k)st/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounEmotional turmoil; painful sadness; anguish.
nounA feeling of acute but vague anxiety or apprehension often accompanied by depression, especially philosophical anxiety.
Sentence Examples
Angst is the fear of our own incapacity for peace.
Teenage angst is a part of life.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Teenagers often experience ____ about their uncertain future and identity.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Many teenagers experience a lot of ____ as they grow and change.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from German Angst or Danish angst; attested since the 19th century in English translations of the works of Søren Kierkegaard. Initially capitalized (as in German and contemporaneous Danish), the term first began to be written with a lowercase "a" around 1940–44. The German and Danish terms both derive from Middle High German angest, from Old High German angust, from Proto-Germanic *angustiz; Dutch angst is cognate. Compare Swedish ångest.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I've begun to regret that we'd ever met / Between the dimensions. / It gets such a strain to pretend that the change / Is anything but cheap. / With your infant pique and your angst pretensions / Sometimes you act like such a creep."
— 1979, Peter Hammill, Mirror images:
"Harry's adolescence is theatrical and gaudy, and many of its key scenes have a lurid and camp quality that is appropriate to the exaggerated mood-shifting and self-dramatizing of teen angst."
— 2007, Martyn Bone, Perspectives on Barry Hannah, page 3:
"General: a story with a general theme. It is neither romance or angst but may incorporate elements of all other genres."
— (Can we date this quote?), Linda Green, Entering Potter's World: A Guide for Fanfiction Writers, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 21:
"Fans prefer fluff to other types of fic. But angst (dramatic stories where characters have a wide range of emotions, including ... angsty ones) comes in a close second."
— 2017 October 31, Ashley J. Barner, The Case for Fanfiction: Exploring the Pleasures and Practices of a Maligned Craft, McFarland, →ISBN, page 67:
"There are plots that take off from the discovery of another characters' letters or diaries (e.g., CarolB's “First Attachment," an angst fanfic in which Marianne Dashwood discovers Colonel Brandon's diary related to his youthful relationship with Eliza)"
— 2020 October 2, Mike Goode, Romantic Capabilities: Blake, Scott, Austen, and the New Messages of Old Media, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 193:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Teenagers often experience ____ about their uncertain future and identity.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Many teenagers experience a lot of ____ as they grow and change.