Nodus tollens (pronounced NOH-dus TOH-lenz) is a neologism coined by John Koenig for The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, referring to the unsettling realization that your life no longer makes sense to you—that the “plot” of your existence has become incoherent or the narrative you’ve followed is no longer working. The term is a linguistic play on the logical principle modus tollens (a way of denying the antecedent) and the Latin word nodus (knot), suggesting a tangled complication in one’s person