Malcolm Boyd
Did you know?
A recipe: combine a handful of the blahs, a pinch of the blues, and maybe a soupçon of ennui, season generously with “under the weather,” and voila, you’ve got yourself the stew of sinking sensations known as malaise. Malaise, whose Old French ancestor was formed from the combination of mal (“bad”) and aise (“comfort”), has been a part of English since the mid-18th century. It originally referred to a vague feeling of weakness or discomfort accompanying the onset of an illness—a meaning still in use today when a virus or other malady starts producing symptoms—but has since broadened to cover a general, ominous sense of mental or moral ill-being.
Examples of malaise in a Sentence
Michael S. Rose, National Review, 4 Jan. 2025
The Chinese government has implemented stimulus measures aimed at pulling the world's second-largest economy out of a deflationary, slow-growth malaise.
—Axios, 2 Jan. 2025
But China’s economic malaise has curtailed spending in Hong Kong by mainland Chinese visitors, many of whom make day trips from the city of Shenzhen across the border.
—Kim Gu, NBC News, 24 Dec. 2024
If this sort of malaise continues, the rest of the pack is going to pull away quickly.
—Aaron Portzline, The Athletic, 15 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for malaise 
Articles Related to malaise
Dictionary Entries Near malaise
Cite this Entry
“Malaise.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malaise. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share