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Ennui [ahn-wee, ahn-wee]
Not all boredom is created equal: some of it is
fleeting and circumstantial, and some of it teeters on existential crisis. Ennui tends
toward the latter--or at least it used to. Derived from the French verb enuier meaning "to
annoy," its peak usage was in Victorian and Romantic literature to express
a profound sense of weariness, even a spiritual emptiness or alienation from
one's surroundings and time. Nowadays it's used at both ends of the boredom
spectrum, but its deep literary history lends even the most shallow disinterest
a grandiose air.