How to Use ennui in a Sentence

ennui

noun
  • But his best moments ditch the ennui and open up.
    — Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 3 Sep. 2025
  • This is the term of people who believe their ennui is epochal.
    — Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2016
  • Winslet has played her fair share of women grappling with ennui.
    — Manuel Betancourt, Vulture, 27 May 2021
  • Teasdale has a voice that can swing from deep and teasing to dry and laden with ennui.
    — Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 4 Apr. 2022
  • The warmth that acts as the exact counterpole to ennui.
    — Courtney Crowder, USA Today, 10 Apr. 2026
  • Hank is filled with ennui soaked with a tinge of anger, with a sprinkle of misanthropy on top.
    — Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 11 Mar. 2023
  • And my too evident ennui and lack of lust for life on this cold and still dark early morning.
    — New York Times Games, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2025
  • Grace Ko) sweeten the pill and help relieve some moments of ennui.
    — Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 June 2019
  • Vaughn Williams will be familiar to fans of aging-white-guy ennui.
    — Benjamin Alsup, Esquire, 17 Apr. 2009
  • The ennui of endless days, week and months at home is understandable.
    — Washington Post Staff, Washington Post, 2 Dec. 2020
  • Chekhov gets a bad rap for his productions being accused of having a false ennui.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Mar. 2023
  • Some folks like to fight off garden ennui by taking out the weed eater and getting a bit aggressive.
    — Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, 28 July 2022
  • Anything where a woman with ennui wanders around a medieval town and runs her hand along a curtain.
    — Kathryn Shattuck, New York Times, 23 Dec. 2023
  • Still, then and now the colors on his palette were shaded more toward ennui than anguish.
    — Houston Chronicle, 2 June 2018
  • But the anger and despair point to a real and growing ennui that’s taken root among younger people.
    — Allison Morrow, CNN, 10 Apr. 2024
  • This is a movie about misery, which makes viewers feel every bit of the characters’ ennui.
    — Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 2019
  • Speaking of start-up ennui, more tech workers are seeking therapy — with the help of apps.
    — New York Times, 22 Sep. 2019
  • The film appears to be made by and for the kinds of people who might find themselves in a similar state of cozy ennui.
    — Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 3 Oct. 2025
  • Bad days at work are inevitable, just as some degree of frustration and ennui is bound to be a part of almost any job.
    — Harvard Business Review, 19 Apr. 2024
  • There’s nothing peaceful about this mental stillness; as the day lengthens, so does the ennui.
    — Rhian Sasseen, The Atlantic, 29 May 2025
  • Too much American Chekhov falls straight into the ennui trap.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 23 Mar. 2026
  • Grumpy Cat, as the name suggests, helped fans channel their frustration, their ennui.
    — Wired, 2 Dec. 2019
  • The tone of this section is one where the feelings of ennui are offset by tension brought on by a great sense of foreboding.
    — Michael Heaton, cleveland.com, 27 Apr. 2018
  • Seesawing stock prices fuel their ennui.
    — Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 21 Nov. 2025
  • Seesawing stock prices fuel their ennui.
    — Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 27 Oct. 2025
  • Bored teenagers dealing with the world at large may have more devices in-hand now, but that tumult of emotions and ennui remains the same.
    — Washington Post, 10 Sep. 2021
  • To appeal to such a wide audience, the brands have sanded down the creative edges of their products to the point of ennui.
    — Dana Thomas, Town & Country, 18 Feb. 2016
  • What could have been a sketch of Cheeveresque ennui is instead a brief and lovely survey of contentment.
    — A.o. Scott, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2018
  • The 119th Congress is a ghost ship, steered by ennui and the desire to evade hard choices.
    — Josh Tyrangiel, The Atlantic, 10 Feb. 2026
  • Those reporters told stories of war in all its gore and its glory, its exhilaration and its ennui.
    — Kathy Kiely, The Conversation, 17 Mar. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ennui.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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