10 (More) Words That English Needs

You can’t leave the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows after reading only ten entries, and you can’t spread the word about one of the best websites on the Internet in just one article. So here we go, ten more words from the great fictional dictionary describing feelings and sensations you’ll recognize as soon as you read their descriptions.

Ambedo is the melancholic, almost hypnotic state you get into when you focus on sensory details like the flickering of a candle or tall trees swaying in the wind and you start thinking about the frailty of life.

Ellipsism is a sadness you feel because you will never know the answer to the question of our existence and you’ll never know how it all turns out in the end.

Apomakrysmenophobia is not a sorrow, it’s a fear—a fear that every connection you have in your life is, essentially, shallow.

We are but the smallest dots in the great and vast universe, and when you look at the night sky and feel slightly unsettled but also awed by the millions of miles separating huge stars, you feel degrassé.

Xeno is the tiniest measure of human connection you can actually feel, like when a person sends you a flirtatious glance, or when someone smiles at you passing by.

Every once in a while, you come across an author with whom you just connect, no matter how far in space or time they might be from you. That feeling of connection is called moledro

Chrysalism is the feeling of calmness you get while you’re indoors, listening to a thunderstorm happening outside.

Sonder will happen to you on the street, when you start noticing the people passing you by, and all of a sudden you realize that each and every one of them has a life that’s as vivid to them as yours is to you.

Catoptric tristesse is a sadness you feel when you realize that you’ll never really know what other people think about you.

On the day you turn 26, you have a midsummer—a feast that marks the point in your life when you can no longer use your youth as an excuse. It’s a time to buck up and start reaping what you sow, all the while noticing that the days of your life are becoming shorter.