Nemotia

a city with clouds of smoke

Nemotia

n.
the fear that you’re utterly powerless to change the world around you, looking on helplessly at so many intractable problems out there—slums that sprawl from horizon to horizon, daily headlines of an unstoppable civil war, a slick of air pollution blanketing the skyline—which makes the act of trying to live your own life feel grotesque and self-indulgent, as if you’re rubbernecking through the world.

Slovenian nemočen, powerless. Pronounced “nih-moh-shah.”

Mogging Folly

a person sitting on a bench

Offtides

close-up of a chromed metal object

Arroia

people standing on a stage

Nilous

a person standing at a bus terminal

Ecsis

a hand holding a fossil

Craxis

a tall house of cards

Achenia

a close-up of a bottle with an organic object inside

Grayshift

a spiral staircase from above

Tornomov

a cloudy sky and landscape

Hem-Jawed

an abstract image of someone touching their face

Ellipsism

a hand clawing at a wall

Suerza

a tunnel with a light emanating from the end

Nemotia

a city with clouds of smoke

Evertheless

a person floating in water

Ironsick

a group of random devices

Moriturism

a person resting in the back seat of a car

Wollah

a person with shapes raining on them

Karanoia

a neat stack of white paper

Fellchaser

a blurred shadow of a person in a dark room

Tillid

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

Inerrata

a hand holding a broken cup

Austice

a leaf imprint in the mud

Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Hemeisis

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

Symptomania

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

Dystoria

close up of water drops on a window

Nowlings

a pile of black and white puzzle pieces