Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Feeling deeply disheartened, weary, and melancholic: Describes a profound state of sadness, disappointment, or weariness, often due to a prolonged, tiresome, or hopeless situation. It implies a sense of being overwhelmed by sorrow or frustration.
   • Causing deep sadness or weariness: Describes something (a scene, event, or situation) that evokes a feeling of profound melancholy or dreariness.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Nghe tin đó, lòng tôi thấy ngao ngán vô cùng. (Hearing that news, my heart felt immensely disheartened.)
  • Cảnh hoang tàn sau chiến tranh thật ngao ngán. (The desolate scene after the war was truly depressing.)
  • Anh ấy thở dài ngao ngán trước đống công việc chất cao. (He let out a weary sigh in front of the towering pile of work.)

Advanced Usage

• "Thở dài ngao ngán": to sigh wearily/dejectedly.

  • Cô ấy chỉ biết thở dài ngao ngán mà không nói gì. (She could only sigh wearily without saying a word.)

• "Cảm thấy ngao ngán": to feel deeply disheartened/depressed.

  • Tôi cảm thấy ngao ngán trước những thủ tục hành chính rườm rà. (I feel deeply disheartened by the cumbersome administrative procedures.)

Variants and Related Words

• Ngán (adj/verb): To be fed up, tired of, or sick of something. This is the root word, expressing a stronger sense of saturation or disgust.

  • Tôi đã ngán ngẩm chuyện tranh cãi vô bổ. (I am utterly fed up with pointless arguments.)

• Chán ngán (adj): Synonymous with "ngao ngán," meaning deeply weary and disheartened.

  • Một cảm giác chán ngán tràn ngập trong anh. (A feeling of deep weariness flooded over him.)

Synonyms

• Chán nản: Discouraged, disheartened.
• Buồn rầu: Sad, sorrowful.
• Thất vọng: Disappointed.
• Mệt mỏi: Tired, weary (often physically or mentally).

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "Ngao ngán lòng": A poetic/literary phrase meaning "a disheartened soul/spirit."
  • Cảnh vật tiêu điều khiến ngao ngán lòng người. (The bleak scenery makes one's spirit weary.)

(Note: "ngao ngán" is primarily an adjective and is not commonly used in phrasal verb constructions like English words.)

1. Feel depressed. feel immensely melancholy.
   • "Cảnh tiêu điều ngao ngán dường bao " (ôn như hầu Nguyễn Gia Thiều)
     How depressing the desolate scenery was!