malaise

noun mal·aise \ mə-ˈlāz , ma- , -ˈlez \

|Updated on: 7 Jun 2018

Examples: malaise in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of malaise

1 : an indefinite feeling of debility or lack of health often indicative of or accompanying the onset of an illness

An infected person will feel a general malaise.

2 : a vague sense of mental or moral ill-being

a malaise of cynicism and despair
—Malcolm Boyd

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Examples of malaise in a Sentence

The symptoms include headache, malaise, and fatigue.
An infected person will feel a general malaise.
The country's current economic problems are symptoms of a deeper malaise.

Recent Examples of malaise from the Web

His version of Fahrenheit 451 is a more straightforward depiction of suburban malaise, where people are not just distracted, but miserably numb.

— adi robertson, The Verge, "HBO’s Fahrenheit 451 turns a warning about media into a tirade against tech trends," 19 May 2018
The Rockets Will Show Us What Kind of Team These Warriors Really Are Andrew D. Bernstein Nathaniel Friedman on the greatness and malaise of Golden State.

— nathaniel friedman, GQ, "The Rockets Will Show Us What Kind of Team These Warriors Really Are," 15 May 2018
Khan has done everything in his power to invest in the Jaguars and rescue the franchise from its decade-plus malaise.

— mike bianchi, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Buying Wembley Stadium does NOT mean Shad Khan is moving Jaguars to London, but ...," 1 May 2018
Leave it to Dylan Bundy, the bright beacon in a so-far dark Orioles season, to power through the malaise that has held the team down all year.

— jon meoli, baltimoresun.com, "Orioles end six-game skid with 3-1 win over Indians behind stellar start from Dylan Bundy," 21 Apr. 2018
MacKenzie’s mission was plagued by ice, snow, lack of food, incompetent guides, horrendous weather, and the kind of malaise one associates with northland expeditions (read: Father Hennepin, Jean Nicolet, Lewis and Clark, Roald Amundsen).

— porter fox, Outside Online, "The Best New Books About Epic Expeditions," 19 Apr. 2018
Lowe’s, based in Mooresville, North Carolina, has been locked in a battle with larger rival Home Depot as both chains seek to avoid the malaise that has plagued the retail industry.

— ed hammond, Bloomberg.com, "D.E. Shaw Builds Activist Stake in Lowe’s," 12 Jan. 2018
Some, like many non-Jews, are escaping France's economic malaise.

— brian eads, Newsweek, "Are the French Anti-Semitic?," 6 Feb. 2014
Castner and three alternating paddling partners do an excellent job tracking the route, and also achieving high malaise, on their 1,124-mile reenactment.

— porter fox, Outside Online, "The Best New Books About Epic Expeditions," 19 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'malaise.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Malaise, which ultimately traces back to Old French, has been part of English since the mid-18th century. One of its most notable uses, however, came in 1979 - well, sort of. President Jimmy Carter never actually used the word in his July 15 televised address, but it became known as the malaise speech all the same. In the speech, Carter described the U.S. as a nation facing a crisis of confidence and rife with paralysis and stagnation and drift. He spoke of a national malaise a few days later, and it's not hard to see why the malaise name stuck. The speech was praised by some and criticized by many others, but whatever your politics, it remains a vivid illustration of the meaning of malaise.