averseness

English

Etymology

From averse +‎ -ness.

Noun

averseness (usually uncountable, plural aversenesses)

1. The quality of being averse; opposition of mind.

   Synonyms: aversion, disinclination, unwillingness

   • 1600, George Abbot, An Exposition upon the Prophet Jonah‎^[1], London, Lecture 4, p. 65:

     Oh the stubburnnesse of iniquitie, and mans auersenesse from his maker.

   • 1742, Samuel Richardson, Pamela‎^[2], London, Volume 4, Letter 56, p. 363:

     […] the Fondness or Averseness of the Child to some Servants […] will at any time let one know, whether their Love to the Baby is uniform and the same, when one is absent, as present.

   • 1893 April, Thomas Hardy, “The Fiddler of the Reels”, in Life’s Little Ironies […], London: Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], published 1894, →OCLC, page 181:

     There were tones in it [his fiddling] which bred the immediate conviction that indolence and averseness to systematic application were all that lay between 'Mop' and the career of a second [Niccolò] Paganini.