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.”

Ellipsism

a hand clawing at a wall

Knellish

a blurry image of a person lying on a bed

Rialtoscuro

a blurry image of a light source

Rookish

a stone tower with a person seated on top

Emorries

a magnifying glass over photos and books

Punt Kick

Cover image for the Punt Kick word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Austice

a leaf imprint in the mud

Aoyaoia

a person holding a guitar

Present-Tense

a close-up of a stopwatch

Heartmoor

a campfire with a kettle many small logs

Tornomov

a cloudy sky and landscape

Rasque

close-up of the shards of a broken vase

Adronitis

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