anomie

noun

an·o·mie ˈa-nə-mē

variants or less commonly anomy

: social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values

The reforms of a ruined economy, under these conditions, brought about social anomie, desperation and poverty rather than relief and prosperity.—

T. Mastnak

also : personal unrest, alienation, and uncertainty that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals

In the face of these prevailing values, many workers experience a kind of anomie. Their jobs become empty, meaningless, and intrinsically unsatisfying. —

Robert Straus

anomic

ə-ˈnä-mik

-ˈnō-

adjective

Examples of anomie in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Yolanda finds herself increasingly at odds with colleagues because of her impatience with poor families’ unshakeable distrust and anomie. —

Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 1 Feb. 2025 The video for the title track, an instant-classic twitching dance routine full of arresting contortions, feels like a conceptual piece with images of workplace anomie giving weight to lyrical reassurance. —

Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 24 Jan. 2025 There are many probable causes of our eastward drift: the failures of globalization, the betrayals of technological progress, cultural anomie, the provocateurs who profit from the sense that the world is about to burn. —

Chang Che, The New Yorker, 21 Dec. 2024 An air of bleakness and spiritual anomie permeates the writing, occasionally tempered by the outlandishness of her subjects. —

Negar Azimi, The New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for anomie

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French anomie, borrowed from Greek anomía "lawlessness," from ánomos "lawless, unlawful, without laws" (from a- a- entry 2 + -nomos, adjective derivative of nómos "custom, convention, law," noun derivative of némein "to pasture [animals], rule, direct, distribute, apportion") + -ia -y entry 2 — more at nimble

Note: As a philosophical and sociological term French anomie was introduced by the philosopher Jean-Marie Guyau (1854-88) in Esquisse d'une morale sans obligation ni sanction (Paris, 1885), p. 230: "C'est l'absence de loi fixe, qu'on peut désigner sous le terme d'anomie pour l'opposer à l'autonomie des Kantiens." ("It is the absence of fixed law, which can fall under the term anomie in order to oppose it to the autonomy of the Kantians [followers of Immanuel kant].") The term later became closely associated with the French sociologist Émile durkheim, who used it in De la division du travail social (1893) and Le suicide (1897).

First Known Use

1933, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of anomie was in 1933

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Anomie.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anomie. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.

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Medical Definition

anomie

noun

an·o·mie

variants also anomy

ˈan-ə-mē

: social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values

also : personal unrest, alienation, and anxiety that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals

Last Updated: 11 Feb 2025 - Updated example sentences

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anomie

noun

Examples of anomie in a Sentence

Word History

Dictionary Entries Near anomie

Cite this Entry

Medical Definition