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
Isabella Milano, Better Homes & Gardens, 23 June 2025
Players hoping to avoid the afternoon heat and post-lunch malaise appreciated the move to the morning.
—Paul Dehner Jr, New York Times, 17 June 2025
The movie lags, then strains to get to the next game at the exact time the malaise sets in.
—Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 22 May 2025
Gunnar Henderson, coming off a 37-homer season, and several of his infield sidekicks also suffered from a team-wide malaise.
—Dan Schlossberg, Forbes.com, 17 May 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 12 Jul. 2025.
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