Meanings
- neologismrareuncountableThe haunting quality of seeing a location typically full of people in a state of emptiness or abandonment.
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 page2 more examples
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 5The other difference I noticed from '42 was the sharp drop in oyster farmhands, from hundreds to only three today. Looking around, I felt a touch of kenopsia; the canal seemed much emptier.
2022, David Moscow, John Moscow, From Scratch: Adventures in Harvesting, Hunting, Fishing, and Foraging on a Fragile Planet, unnumbered page
Origin
- Ancient Greekκενός“empty”
- Englishkenopsia
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”).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with kenopsia
All rhymes →Cite this entry
kenopsia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kenopsia
“kenopsia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kenopsia. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kenopsia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kenopsia.
Source: kenopsia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.