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If someone has misplaced a familiar object like a wedding ring or wristwatch, they might say they "feel naked without it", or that it's "like a missing tooth".

It's not exactly "pining" for something, and "Saudade" or "Sehnsucht" is too extreme.

The person might not even realize which item is missing, or it may not be missing at all, only moved to a different place; but because of habit the person expects it to be in its old place.

Is there a noun or noun phrase for this feeling that is more specific to misplaced objects than "disorientation", "nagging uneasiness or "lingering anxiety"?

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    sometimes I've heard people express that faintly unsettled sensation as "feeling a bit lost"
    – Michael Broughton
    Commented Feb 8, 2016 at 20:40
  • Jamais vu, perhaps? The opposite of deja vu.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Feb 8, 2016 at 20:52
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    I don't think there is, I've always had to use a full sentence to describe that feeling. I could write up an answer, and make it official, but that's not really answering your question, because I don't think your question has an answer.
    – Xandar The Zenon
    Commented Feb 8, 2016 at 21:08
  • I'm hesitant on whether or not this would make a good answer; you might call this withdrawal in the sense of definition 1.c.2. in M-W. This would be strictly metaphorical, however- couch-in-the-north-west-corner withdrawal doesn't have the same ring as heroin withdrawal.
    – cobaltduck
    Commented Feb 8, 2016 at 21:31
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    @SpehroPefhany Yes, that's the general idea, although I tend to think of it more in terms of the experience of losing baby teeth as a child.
    – Nathaniel M. Beaver
    Commented Apr 1 at 15:23

2 Answers 2

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What about "bereft", as in, "bereft of his watch, his wrist felt naked"?

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    – user140086
    Commented Feb 9, 2016 at 4:55
  • I'm looking for a noun or noun phrase.
    – Nathaniel M. Beaver
    Commented Feb 12, 2016 at 19:55
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Since you're looking for a noun phrase, you could say "the lack of ." For instance, you could say something like, "He felt discombobulated for lack of (or want of) his pocket watch."

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