Words / E / General

ennui

noun/ɒnˈwiː/

C2CEFR level
60/100Rarity: rare
LiteraryRegister

Listless boredom born of dissatisfaction.

A summer of ennui stretched ahead of him.

Similar: listlessness, tedium

Origin: French ennui 'annoyance'.

Topic: Emotion in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: Emotion