constancy
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old French constance, from Latin constantia
Noun[edit]
constancy (usually uncountable, plural constancies)
- (uncountable) The quality of being constant; steadiness or faithfulness in action, affections, purpose, etc.
- c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act II, Scene 2, [1]
- A little water clears us of this deed: / How easy is it, then! Your constancy / Hath left you unattended.
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1814 July, [Jane Austen], chapter III, in Mansfield Park: A Novel. In Three Volumes, volume III, London: Printed for T[homas] Egerton, Military Library, Whitehall, OCLC 39810224, page 68:
- And, I do not know that I should be fond of preaching often; now and then, perhaps, once or twice in the spring, after being anxiously expected for half a dozen Sundays together; but not for a constancy; it would not do for a constancy.
- 1871, Charles Darwin, Descent of Man, chapter 7 "On the Races of Man,"
- Constancy of character is what is chiefly valued and sought for by naturalists.
- c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act II, Scene 2, [1]
- (countable) An unchanging quality or characteristic of a person or thing.
- 1602, William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well, Act 1, scene ii:
- younger spirits . . .
- whose constancies
- Expire before their fashions.
- 1602, William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well, Act 1, scene ii:
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
The quality of being constant
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An unchanging quality or characteristic of a person or thing
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References[edit]
- constancy in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
- constancy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- “constancy” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.
- Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.
