Appriesse

a blurry image of a person looking at mounted images

Appriesse

n.
the feeling of loss that you never had a chance to meet a certain person before they died, which compels you to try to get to know them anyway, gathering snapshots and stories to build out a sketch of who they were, learning them like a character in a novel, which makes them feel all the more alive even though you’ve already skipped ahead and read the last page.

Latin appretiare, to appraise + ad pressum, after. Pronounced “ap-ree-es.”

Proluctance

Cover image for the Proluctance word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Nowlings

a pile of black and white puzzle pieces

Flichtish

Cover image for the Flichtish word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Halfwise

a train coming towards the camera shot from the tracks

Lisolia

a bookcase containing objects

Routwash

Cover image for the Routwash word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows