reptilianness

English

WOTD – 5 April 2012

Etymology

reptilian +‎ -ness

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɛpˈtɪl.i.ən.nɪs/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: rep‧til‧i‧an‧ness

Noun

reptilianness (uncountable)

1. The quality of having reptile characteristics.
   • 1973, Sarah Lyddon Morrison, The Modern Witch's Spellbook‎^[1], page 135:

     And it wasn't just because he took her to the theater, the best movies, the most expensive restaurants (which reptile people always do to make up for their reptilianness).

   • 2000, James Blish, A Case of Conscience‎^[2], page 148:

     That the combination was perfectly capable of overriding any repugnance people might feel toward his additionally overwhelming reptilianness had already been demonstrated, in response to his first interview on 3-V.

   • 2005, William Fish, Philosophy of Perception: A Contemporary Introduction‎^[3], page 25:

     The first option would require that we are aware of properties such as clumsiness, reptilianness, and felineness by being aware of objects that actually possess those properties.

Translations

embodiment of reptile characteristics

• Dutch: reptieligheid f, reptielachtigheid f
• Finnish: matelijamaisuus, matelijuus
• Malay: kereptiliaan
• Spanish: reptilianidad f

Anagrams

• painterliness, perennialists