Kenopsia
The eerie feeling of being somewhere that’s usually busy when everyone is gone.
Context
John Koenig coined the word for The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. The feeling often comes from the contrast between what a place looks like and what you expect it to sound or feel like when it’s full of people.
A liminal space describes the setting or the sense of being in between. Kenopsia names a feeling the setting can evoke. The atmosphere can carry a feeling of forlornness.
Examples
- “After the last class left, the stillness of the school hallway gave me a feeling of kenopsia.”