ideality

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin ideālitās (“ideality”), from Late Latin ideālis (“ideal”). By surface analysis, ideal +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aɪdiˈælɪti/

Noun

ideality (countable and uncountable, plural idealities)

1. (uncountable) The quality or state of being ideal.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter III, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 32:

     It is commonly said that love never lasts. Now, that is not so much from change, or that it exhausts itself, as that it is mixed up with the paltry cares and daily interests of life; thus losing its ideality, which constitutes its great charm.

2. (uncountable) The capacity to form deals of beauty or perfection.
3. The conceptive faculty.

Related terms

• idea
• ideal

Translations

quality or state of being ideal

• Czech: ideálnost f
• Dutch: idealiteit (nl)
• French: idéalité (fr) f

Trivia

Aside from the proper noun Oceania, this is the shortest five-syllable word in the English language.

References

• “ideality”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ideality”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• aedility, ædility

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “ideality”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)