Hem-Jawed

an abstract image of someone touching their face

Hem-Jawed

adj.
feeling trapped inside your own language, struggling to shake away the baggage weighing down certain words, unable to break out of its age-old structures and melodies, frustrated that the scattering of verbal pigments on its palette could never quite capture the colors in your head.

From hem, an attempt to clear the throat + jaw, coarse babble.

Lockheartedness

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

Foreclearing

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

Nilous

a person standing at a bus terminal

Arroia

people standing on a stage

Covalent Bond

Cover image for the Covalent Bond word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Énouement

a hand opening a curtain