Dictionary

taedium vitae en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌtiːdiəm ˈviːtʌɪ/

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (uncountable) Profound ennui or weariness of one's life.
   • He was haunted, it seems, by the symbol of a Prometheus wearied of his immortality of anguish,— by the tedium vitae. 1922, Isaac Goldberg, Brazilian Literature, New York: A.A. Knopf, page 154:
   • 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 […] 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, page 390:
   • 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. 1957, Lawrence Durrell, Justine:

Forms

Relateds

tedium