kenopsia
UK/kəˈnɒp.si.ə/US/kəˈnɑp.si.ə/
kenopsia noun: the haunting quality of seeing a location typically full of people in a state of emptiness or abandonment.
Noun
kenopsia (uncountable)
- The haunting quality of seeing a location typically full of people in a state of emptiness or abandonment.
- Many of the places we visited have the distinct feel of kenopsia, which is that eeriness of places left behind or once teeming with people but now quiet, save for the wind blowing through open windows.2019, Ellen Klinkel, Nick Gerlich, A Matter of Time: Route 66 through the Lens of Change, page 5
- WHO calls it a global pandemic,
Earth's population lost in kenopsia.2022, Uboho Bassey, “Coronavirus”, in Times and Seasons: A Collection of Poems, unnumbered page
Origin of kenopsia
Coined by American author and neologist John Koenig, creator of The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, from Ancient Greek κενός (kenós, “empty”) and the modern English suffix -opsia, itself from the Ancient Greek -οψία (-opsía, “sight”).
Words that rhyme with kenopsia
Questions about kenopsia
- What does kenopsia mean?
- Kenopsia means the haunting quality of seeing a location typically full of people in a state of emptiness or abandonment.
- What part of speech is kenopsia?
- Kenopsia is a noun.
- How do you pronounce kenopsia?
- Kenopsia is pronounced /kəˈnɒp.si.ə/ (UK).
Words near kenopsia in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kenopsia (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “kenopsia.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kenopsia. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.