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prettygoodwordanomie (AN-uh-mee) - n., social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values; personal unrest, alienation, and uncertainty that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals.
Short shameful confession: I've always had a vague sense that means unrest from boredom --- I'm guessing I was confusing it with ennui. The term was popularized (and coined?) in French by sociologist Émile Durkheim in the 1890s, from Ancient Greek anomía, lawlessness, from a-, not + nómos, law -- despite the root meaning, the modern understanding is more like normlessness, without social norms.
---L.
Short shameful confession: I've always had a vague sense that means unrest from boredom --- I'm guessing I was confusing it with ennui. The term was popularized (and coined?) in French by sociologist Émile Durkheim in the 1890s, from Ancient Greek anomía, lawlessness, from a-, not + nómos, law -- despite the root meaning, the modern understanding is more like normlessness, without social norms.
---L.
