![]() Schadenfreude is a German word that describes the experience of finding joy in the suffering of others. This feeling is characterized by a constant preoccupation with the object of one’s affection and can sometimes border on the pathological. Limerence is a word that was coined by psychologist Dorothy Tennov in the 1970s to describe an intense, often obsessive, infatuation with another person. It is a bittersweet feeling that can arise when we remember a past love, a childhood home, or a place we visited that we may never be able to return to.Ī state of infatuation or obsession with another person. Saudade is a Portuguese word that encapsulates a sense of longing for something that is no longer within reach. Saudade (n.) –Ī feeling of melancholic longing or nostalgia for a person, place, or thing that is far away or no longer exists. This feeling is ennui, a word that originated in 18th-century France and is still used today to describe a sense of disconnection from the world around us. We’ve all experienced that sense of restlessness and boredom that can arise when we feel that our lives lack purpose or direction. In this article, we will explore 15 obscure words that can be used to describe everyday feelings and emotions, providing a richer and more nuanced vocabulary for our inner experiences. However, sometimes the words we use to describe these experiences can be limited or repetitive. Sometimes a more elaborate description of someone’s posture, expression, mannerisms is in order, other times it’s better to breeze through a description more quickly.As human beings, we experience a wide range of emotions and feelings on a daily basis. I think it’s probably good to mix it up, though. I usually write in limited third or first pov, so I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong to “interpret” an expression as your pov character interprets it, rather than just using an “external camera” to catalog facial expression as pure, objective description. Context can help some of the time, but not always. A twitching cheek can indicate anger, worry etc. And of course, raised eyebrows can indicate surprise, alarm, skepticism etc. Problem is, these basic descriptions of mouth, eye and eyebrow position start to sound repetitive after a while (like those hyperactive eyebrows someone mentioned upthread). ![]() So to please this sort of critter, I’m sort of stuck with things like the corners of his mouth drooped, or one side of his mouth twitched upwards, or his eyebrows shot up etc. So if I say someone has a wry expression on his face, he’ll say “That’s telling. One of my readers, though, is stickler for the strictest form of showing not telling. Wry: twisted or crooked to express cleverness or a dark or ironic feeling Withering: devastating see also wrathfulġ00. Wild eyed: excited, frightened, or stressfulĩ5. Sly: cunning see also furtive and mischievousĩ4. Pleading: seeking apology or assistanceħ4. Pained: affected with discomfort or painĦ2. Mischievous: annoyingly or maliciously playfulĥ6. Meaningful: to convey an implicit connotation or shared secretĥ4. Leering: see meaningful also, sexually suggestiveĥ2. Hunted: tense as if worried about pursuitĥ1. Hostile: aggressively angry, intimidating, or resistantĤ6. Hopeless: depressed by a lack of encouragement or optimismĤ5. Haunted: frightened, worried, or guiltyĤ4. Grave: serious, expressing emotion due to loss or sadnessĤ3. Grim: see despondent also, fatalistic or pessimisticĤ2. Glazed: expressionless due to fatigue or confusionĤ1. Glancing: staring briefly as if curious but evasiveģ7. Faint: cowardly, weak, or barely perceptibleģ5. Dreamy: distracted by daydreaming or fantasizingģ1. Dour: stern or obstinate see also despondentĢ8. Deadpan: expressionless, to conceal emotion or heighten humorĢ6. ![]() ![]() Darkly: with depressed or malevolent feelingsĢ1. Blithe: carefree, lighthearted, or heedlessly indifferentġ4. Blissful: showing a state of happiness or divine contentmentġ1. Blinking: surprise, or lack of concernġ0. Appealing: attractive, in the sense of encouraging goodwill and/or interestĩ. Alluring: attractive, in the sense of arousing desireĤ. First try conveying emotions indirectly or through dialogue, but if you must fall back on a descriptive term, try for precision:ģ. Face it - sometimes you must give your readers a countenance-based clue about what a character or a subject is feeling.
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