In medicine, malaise is a feeling of general discomfort, uneasiness or lack of wellbeing and often the first sign of an infection or other disease.
The term is often used figuratively in other contexts, in addition to its meaning as a general state of angst or melancholia.
Malaise is a non-specific symptom and can be present in the slightest ailment, such as an emotion (causing fainting, a vasovagal response) or hunger (light hypoglycemia[2]), to the most serious conditions (cancer, stroke, heart attack, internal bleeding, etc.).
Malaise expresses a patient's uneasiness that "something is not right" that may need a medical examination to determine the significance.
[3] "Economic malaise" refers to an economy that is stagnant or in recession (compare depression).