Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark

Starlorn

n.
a sense of loneliness looking up at the night sky, feeling like a castaway marooned in the middle of the ocean, whose currents are steadily carrying off all other castaways—entire worlds and stars whose only remnant is a scrap of light they flung overboard centuries ago, a message in a bottle that’s only just now washing up on our shores.

From star, a luminous dot in the cloudless sky + -lorn, sorely missing. Pronounced “stahr-lawrn.”

Adomania

a person riding a horse

Aponemia

a group of people standing together

Kadot

a person looking at an abstract spiral

Craxis

a tall house of cards

Hem-Jawed

an abstract image of someone touching their face

Nilous

a person standing at a bus terminal

Furosha

a storm raging in the sky over a building

Dystoria

close up of water drops on a window

Evertheless

a person floating in water

Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark

Tornomov

a cloudy sky and landscape

Ecsis

a hand holding a fossil

Grayshift

a spiral staircase from above

Karanoia

a neat stack of white paper

Winnewaw

a person wearing a party hat

Irrition

a close up of a dandelion

Ironsick

a group of random devices

Achenia

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

Justing

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

Hem-Jawed

an abstract image of someone touching their face

On Tenderhooks

Cover image for the On Tenderhooks word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Anticious

a group of men in hats looking at elevated signage

Etterath

a graduation cap and gown on a chair

The Giltwrights

Cover image for the The Giltwrights word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Offtides

close-up of a chromed metal object

Maugry

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

Altschmerz

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