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.”

Fool’s Guilt

Cover image for the Fool’s Guilt word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Backmasking

a woman's face with a double exposure

Aftergloom

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

Fygophobia

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

Candling

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

Nyctous

a person walking in the middle of a street