What does "malaise" mean?

A feeling of general bodily discomfort, fatigue or unpleasantness, often at the onset of illness.

What is a synonym for "malaise"?

Common synonyms include: angst, unease, unease, abnormality, aches and pains, acute disease.

//məˈleɪz// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Noun

1
A feeling of general bodily discomfort, fatigue or unpleasantness, often at the onset of illness. countable, uncountable
"Addressing tech malaise has become a trend with authors and self-help coaches – such as Catherine Price, author of How to Break Up With Your Phone, who, during a $295, 50-minute phone call, will offer you advice on things like how to create roadblocks to checking your phone by putting a rubber band around your screen, and “think of the bigger picture” rather than what you’re missing on Twitter."
2
physical discomfort (as mild sickness or depression) wordnet
3
An ambiguous feeling of mental or moral depression. countable, uncountable
"Their failure helped produce the widespread malaise reported by Thucydides: the Athenians "grieved over their private sufferings, the common people because, having started out with less, they were deprived even of that; the rich had lost their beautiful estates in the country, the houses as well as their expensive furnishings, but worst of all, they had war instead of peace" (2.65.2)."
4
Ill will or hurtful feelings for others or someone. countable, uncountable

"Do you think your feeling of malaise is related to your job?"

From French malaise (“ill ease”), from mal- (“bad, badly”) + aise (“ease”). Compare ill at ease.

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