Weltschmerz

Definition

An apathetic or pessimistic view of life; depression concerning or discomfort with the human condition or state of the world; mal du siècle, world-weariness.

Etymology

Borrowed from German Weltschmerz, from Welt (“world”) + Schmerz (“physical ache, pain; emotional pain, heartache, sorrow”). The German word was coined by the author Jean Paul (1763–1825) in his novel Selina (posthumously published in 1827).

Example Sentences

• "And in this respect [Ludwig] Uhland presents a marked and useful contrast to the lackadaisical, sentimental, Weltschmerz school, the poets of which trade on their own pretended misery, and, cunningly enough, suggest that their poems must be touching and true in proportion as the authors set themselves forth as peculiarly skilled in bitterness of heart and badness of life."
• "[page 118] It speaks well for the general healthiness of the English nation that we have no words corresponding to ‘Weltschmerz’ or ‘Ennui’. The ordinary Englishman experiences neither of these things. […] [page 119] Weltschmerz is a species of disease, a sort of spiritual measles—or to give a more technical diagnosis, it is the revolt of a young soul against the stone and iron of existence. […] ‘Ennui’ only attacks people either of hopeless incapacity or incurable laziness. Weltschmerz on the other hand is a positive, restless, state, a state of protest against the nature of things."
• "The artificial woe of the ancient armorist, whose days were a perpetual honeyed despair and his nights one long lachrymose vigil, is an extinct literary tradition; but a new, a different, and, alas! a more real sadness has taken its place—the modern world-sadness, the Weltschmerz, which infects all we do and are, not excepting our love-making— […]"