malaise
/maˈleɪz
/noun [mass noun]
A general feeling of discomfort, illness, or unease whose exact cause is difficult to identify: a general air of malaise [in singular]: a society afflicted by a deep cultural malaise...
- It is this same distortion of values which is at the root of the malaise in general practice.
- The disease has an insidious onset and presents with fever, malaise and weakness.
- He's certainly improved from his involvement at the start of the season when he got caught in the general malaise of the team.
Synonyms
unhappiness, restlessness, uneasiness, unease, melancholy, depression, despondency, dejection, disquiet, trouble, anxiety, anguish, angst;
ailment(s), ills;
lassitude, listlessness, languor, weariness, enervation, doldrums;
weakness, feebleness, debility, indisposition, infirmity, illness, sickness, disease, discomfort;
German Weltschmerz;
French ennui
Origin
Mid 18th century: from French, from Old French mal 'bad' (from Latin malus) + aise 'ease'.
malice from Middle English:
Malice goes back to Latin malus ‘bad’, the source also of malign (Middle English), malaise (mid 18th century), and the first part of malevolent (early 16th century), the second half being from Latin velle ‘to wish’. Since the 15th century malice has been a legal term, found especially in malice aforethought, the intention to kill or harm which distinguishes murder from manslaughter.