Dystoria

close up of water drops on a window

Dystoria

n.
a feeling of irrelevance from the broader forces of history; the sense that your life has no relationship to any great mission, no generational hardship, not even an enemy—feeling as harmless as a droplet skittering down a window, that could’ve just as easily taken part in a tidal wave.

Latin dys-, bad + historia, history. Pronounced “dis-toh-ree-uh.”

Inerrata

a hand holding a broken cup

Zverism

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

Galagog

a person alone in a snowy desolate landscape

Anechosis

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

Allope

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

Alpha Exposure

a close-up of a baby with diffusion filter