Definition of "weltschmerz"

[Henry] Koerner's painting did have the heaviness, the harsh humor and the all-pervading weltschmerz which characterized German expressionism in the 1920s.

1947 April 28, “Art: Berlin’s Best”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Time‎, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., archived from the original on 3 February 2011

The country was fat with peacetime prosperity, but lots of people were afflicted with a postwar funk called weltschmerz. They were depressed by what they'd seen of the "civilized" world. Soon whole bunches of people in their 20s and 30s moved to ski towns, checking out of the mainstream altogether. Their goal was no more lofty than having the freedom to spend day after endless day in a peaceful bubble, close to nature and on snow-covered slopes. Here was the weltschmerz antidote—and the birth of the parallel universe.

2001 December, Susan Reifer, “Skiing is Good: Carry the Solitude and Peace of the Mountains with You”, in Rick Kahl, editor, Skiing, volume 54, number 4, Boulder, Colo.: Time4 Media, page 64, columns 2–3

Execution, the band's second record, burns with intense weltschmerz, its existential crises cloaked in buoyant instrumental hooks and shimmery arrangements.

2002 October, Maya Singer, “Rilo Kiley: The Execution of All Things: Saddle Creek”, in CMJ New Music Monthly, number 106, New York, N.Y.: The CMJ Network, page 46