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I cannot remember the English word for a known meaning. The meaning of the forgotten word from the dictionary is a "a rapt state induced by a yearning for the unattainable".

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  • I put what you said into Google and got Sehnsucht and saudade. Is it either of those? Neither’s strictly English, but I don’t think there is a strictly English word that expresses all of that.
    – Tyler James Young
    Oct 23, 2014 at 22:49
  • No I don't recall these two words. The sort-after word was not an obvious 'foreign' word from the long lost English dictionary - last viewed in 1973!
    – Graeme Corlett
    Oct 23, 2014 at 23:00
  • @GraemeCorlett: You can add additional details to your question and it would be perfect if you can include an example sentence with a blank that this word would fit.
    – ermanen
    Oct 23, 2014 at 23:13
  • Isn't it simply longing? [MW definition: a strong desire especially for something unattainable]
    – ermanen
    Oct 23, 2014 at 23:22

6 Answers 6

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Ecstasy. Medieval saints, including Teresa of Avila and Gregory Palamas, achieved this altered state of consciousness after intense fasting and praying.

From Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2014.:

ecstasy (noun), plural ecstasies.

  1. rapturous delight.

  2. an overpowering emotion or exaltation; a state of sudden, intense feeling.

  3. the frenzy of poetic inspiration.

  4. mental transport or rapture from the contemplation of divine things.

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It sounds to me like part of the English explanation of the German word Sehnsucht.

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The term Saudade may fit your description:

  • (European Portuguese: [sɐwˈðaðɨ], Brazilian Portuguese: is a Portuguese or Galician word that has no direct translation in English. It describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing may never return. A stronger form of saudade may be felt towards people and things whose whereabouts are unknown, such as a lost lover, or a family member who has gone missing, moved away, separated, or died.

Also : pining may fit the description: ( from TFD)

  • a feeling of deep longing

To pine:

  • To feel a lingering, often nostalgic desire.
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  • Pining - see also: fjords.
    – BrianH
    Oct 24, 2014 at 5:26
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Not a lot to go on. My guess is Nirvana.

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  • -1 You attain Nirvana to suffer a yearning?
    – Kris
    Oct 24, 2014 at 6:31
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A close kin is awe, from dictionary.reference.com

an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like: in awe of God; in awe of great political figures.

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Tantalizing Desire is the word used for yearning to possess something which is unobtainable. So you were totally tantalized by something.

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    To improve the answer, you should include a dictionary definition and link for tantalized.
    – KillingTime
    May 13, 2021 at 12:54

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