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.”

Enterhood

adults with stern expressions holding a child

Pithered

stacks of papers and folders piled high on a table

Echthesia

blurry image of two clocks

Lisolia

a bookcase containing objects

Tirosy

a close-up of a young child's face

Alpha Exposure

a close-up of a baby with diffusion filter

Ecury

a close-up of cave drawings and symbols

Yeorie

a woman with tendrils of smoke moving across her face

Énouement

a hand opening a curtain

Epistrix

several doors standing in a dark room

Appriesse

a blurry image of a person looking at mounted images

Daguerreologue

Daguer-reologue

a man sitting in blurred silhouette at a desk

Emorries

a magnifying glass over photos and books

Archimony

a person looking at broken furniture

Blinkback

a wall full of pictures and objects

Walloway

water faucet that seems to emanate from the ground

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Anticious

a group of men in hats looking at elevated signage

Eftless

a person with hands pressed on a window

Ledsome

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

Hubilance

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

Backmasking

a woman's face with a double exposure

Star-Stuck

a man walking towards a door with a large question mark

Galagog

a person alone in a snowy desolate landscape

Lackout

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

Hailbound

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

Exulansis

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