weltschmerz
See also: Weltschmerz
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from German Weltschmerz, literally Welt (“world”) + Schmerz (“ache, pain”) (cognate to smart (“pain”)).
Pronunciation
Noun
weltschmerz (uncountable)
- (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.
- 1938, W.S. Heckscher, “‘Was This the Face…?’” in the Journal of the Warburg Institute I, № 4 (April 1938), page 297:
Synonyms
Translations
world-weariness
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