weltschmerz

See also: Weltschmerz

English

Alternative forms

• Weltschmerz

Etymology

Loanword from German Weltschmerz, literally Welt (“world”) + Schmerz (“ache, pain”) (cognate to smart (“pain”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛltʃmɛːts/

Noun

weltschmerz (uncountable)

1. (sometimes capitalized) World-weariness; an apathetic or pessimistic view of life; depression concerning or discomfort with the human condition or state of the world.
   • 1938, W.S. Heckscher, “‘Was This the Face…?’” in the Journal of the Warburg Institute I, № 4 (April 1938), page 297:

     Here we have it at once, blended though it may be with the new elements of purging humour and all-embracing Weltschmerz, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

   • 1947, "Art: Berlin's Best," Time, 28 Apr.:

     Koerner's painting did have the heaviness, the harsh humor and the all-pervading weltschmerz which characterized German expressionism in the 1920s.

   • 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:

     A man-to-man touch then on his buttoned epaulet. A middle-aged smile full of Weltschmerz.

Synonyms

• acedia
• ennui
• mal du siècle

Translations

world-weariness

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 厭世 (zh), 厌世 (zh) (yànshì)

• Czech: světabol m
• Dutch: weltschmerz (nl) m, f

• Finnish: maailmantuska
• German: Weltschmerz (de) m
• Russian: мирова́я скорбь f (mirovája skorbʹ)
• Spanish: weltschmerz m

See also

• weight of the world