Malcolm Boyd
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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
Roderick Boone, Charlotte Observer, 21 Dec. 2025
The Xbox console was once considered a cutting-edge product, launched in 2001 when Microsoft was otherwise entering a prolonged post-dot-com-bubble creative malaise.
—Dan Bernstein, Sportico.com, 18 Dec. 2025
In this view, the disparity between China’s official optimism and the observable malaise in the Chinese economy raises questions not only about the reliability of Chinese data but also about China’s projection of power in the world.
—Zongyuan Zoe Liu, Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025
The disruptive effects of phones, social media, and the fallout from the pandemic have only added to young people’s malaise.
—Susan Caminiti, CNBC, 16 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for malaise
Cite this Entry
“Malaise.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malaise. Accessed 21 Dec. 2025.
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