weltschmerz
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Weltschmerz¹
- /ˈvɛltˌʃmɛːts/ UK
- /-ˌʃmɜːts/ UK
- /ˈvɛltˌʃmɝts/ US
Where it comes from
Borrowed from German Weltschmerz, from Welt (“world”) + Schmerz (“physical ache, pain; emotional pain, heartache, sorrow”). The German word was coined by the author Jean Paul (1763–1825) in his novel Selina (posthumously published in 1827).
noun weltschmerz
- An apathetic or pessimistic view of life; depression concerning or discomfort with the human condition or state of the world; mal du siècle, world-weariness. And in this respect [Ludwig] Uhland presents a marked and useful contrast to the lackadaisical, sentimental, Weltschmerz school, the poets of which trade on their own pretended misery, and, cunningly enough, suggest that their poems must be touching and true in proportion as the authors set themselv
weltschmerz²
noun
- Alternative letter-case form of Weltschmerz [Henry] Koerner's painting did have the heaviness, the harsh humor and the all-pervading weltschmerz which characterized German expressionism in the 1920s.
Translations
Every language
noun apathetic or pessimistic view of life; depression concerning or discomfort ith the human condition or state of the world — see also world-weariness
| Español | weltschmerz |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 厭世 /厌世 yànshì |
| Deutsch | Weltschmerz |
| Русский | мирова́я скорбь mirovája skorbʹ |
| עברית | צַעַר הָעוֹלָם tsaár haolám |
Talk about this word "weltschmerz." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/weltschmerz. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. weltschmerz. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/weltschmerz "weltschmerz." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/weltschmerz.Cite this
@misc{weltschmerz_2026,
title = {weltschmerz},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/weltschmerz},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
