Malaise
noun /malˈeɪz/ — A vague feeling of discomfort and illness — without clear cause.
Definition
A general feeling of discomfort, illness, or unease whose exact cause is difficult to identify; a vague sense that something is wrong — physically or more broadly in a social or cultural sense.
Beyond the definition
Malaise is the word for the feeling before you know what's wrong. The body's pre-symptom signal; the cultural sense of something amiss in an institution or society. Its vagueness is part of its meaning — malaise is specifically the undifferentiated discomfort, before diagnosis or identification.
Origin & history
From Old French malaise (discomfort), from mal (bad, badly) + aise (ease, comfort). The opposite of ease — the dis-ease before it has a name.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
She woke with a malaise that was not quite illness — a grey, heavy feeling without a source.
There was a cultural malaise in the country that the election had not addressed.
The malaise that precedes diagnosis is sometimes harder than the diagnosis itself — at least then you know what you are dealing with.
How to use it
This entry uses a noun. Follow the examples for articles and singular or plural forms; not every noun takes “a” or “an.”
Choose “Malaise” when the meaning fits your context: A general feeling of discomfort, illness, or unease whose exact cause is difficult to identify; a vague sense that something is wrong — physically or more broadly in a social or cultural sense.
Synonyms
unease, discomfort, lassitude, indisposition
Antonyms
wellbeing, vitality, vigour
Related words
Questions about this word
What does "Malaise" mean?
Malaise is noun meaning: A vague feeling of discomfort and illness — without clear cause.. A general feeling of discomfort, illness, or unease whose exact cause is difficult to identify; a vague sense that something is wrong — physically or more broadly in a social or cultural sense.
Where does the word "Malaise" come from?
From Old French malaise (discomfort), from mal (bad, badly) + aise (ease, comfort). The opposite of ease — the dis-ease before it has a name.