What does "anhedonia" mean?

The inability to feel pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable, such as exercise, hobbies, music, sexual activities or social interactions.

What is a synonym for "anhedonia"?

Common synonyms include: joylessness, joylessness.

How do you pronounce "anhedonia"?

Pronounced //ˌæn.hiˈdoʊ.ni.ə//.

Anhedonia

//ˌæn.hiˈdoʊ.ni.ə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
The inability to feel pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable, such as exercise, hobbies, music, sexual activities or social interactions. uncountable, usually
"Prolonged seasickness will in most persons produce a temporary condition of anhedonia. Every good, terrestrial or celestial, is imagined only to be turned from with disgust."
2
an inability to experience pleasure wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

joylessness joylessness

Example

More examples

"Prolonged seasickness will in most persons produce a temporary condition of anhedonia. Every good, terrestrial or celestial, is imagined only to be turned from with disgust."

Etymology

From French anhédonie (coined by Ribot, 1896), from Ancient Greek ἀν- (an-) + ἡδονή (hēdonḗ, “pleasure”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.