Malaise Meaning
/məˈleɪz/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA feeling of general bodily discomfort, fatigue or unpleasantness, often at the onset of illness.
nounAn ambiguous feeling of mental or moral depression.
Sentence Examples
Do you think your feeling of malaise is related to your job?
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
She felt a strange ____, with no specific pain but a general feeling of being unwell.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
There was a general sense of ____ among the employees after the company announced its latest layoffs.
Word Origin & History
From French malaise (“ill ease”), from mal- (“bad, badly”) + aise (“ease”). Compare ill at ease.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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 around your screen, and “think of the bigger picture” rather than what you’re missing on Twitter."
— 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:
"The Euston Rush hit the headlines last year. It also became synonymous with a lack of respect for passengers, a disregard for planning in stations, and a general malaise in the rail industry."
— 2025 November 12, Tom Edwards, “Tackling the 'Euston Rush'”, in RAIL, number 1048, page 32:
"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 their expensive furnishings, but worst of all, they had war instead of peace" (2.65.2)."
— 2003, Donald Kagan, The Peloponnesian War:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She felt a strange ____, with no specific pain but a general feeling of being unwell.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
There was a general sense of ____ among the employees after the company announced its latest layoffs.