taedium vitae

See also: tædium vitæ

English

Alternative forms

• tædium vitæ

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin taedium (“boredom”) + vītae (“of life”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌtiːdiəm ˈviːtʌɪ/

Noun

taedium vitae (uncountable)

1. Profound ennui or weariness of one's life.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, page 390:

     Hence it proceeds many times that they are weary of their lives, and feral thoughts to offer violence to their own persons come into their minds; tædium vitæ is a common symptom  […]

   • 1922, Isaac Goldberg, Brazilian Literature, New York: A.A. Knopf, page 154:

     He was haunted, it seems, by the symbol of a Prometheus wearied of his immortality of anguish,— by the tedium vitae.

   • 1957, Lawrence Durrell, Justine:

     From time to time one of Georges' numerous girls strays into my net by calling at the flat when he is not there, and the incident serves for a while to sharpen my taedium vitae.

Related terms

• tedium

Further reading

• “taedium vitae”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.