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.”

Allope

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

Justing

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Ecstatic Shock

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Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark

Antiophobia

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

Povism

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