freeness
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Noun
[edit]freeness (usually uncountable, plural freenesses)
- The state or condition of being free (unconstrained, unconfined, unencumbered, unobstructed, or free-spirited).
- 1722, Benjamin Franklin (as Silence Dogood), "Silence Dogood, No. 8", The New-England Courant, July 9, 1722:
- Whoever would overthrow the Liberty of a Nation, must begin by subduing the Freeness of Speech; a Thing terrible to Publick Traytors.[sic]
- 2021, Rivers Solomon, Sorrowland, #Merky Books, page 163:
- Vern could appreciate his freeness. He was a spirited, buoyant thing.
- 1722, Benjamin Franklin (as Silence Dogood), "Silence Dogood, No. 8", The New-England Courant, July 9, 1722:
- Openness; unreservedness; frankness; ingenuousness; candor.
- The freeness of a confession.
- Liberality; generosity.
- The freeness in giving.
- Gratuitousness.
- The freeness of divine grace.
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]References
[edit]- Noah Webster (1828) “freeness”, in An American Dictionary of the English Language: […], volume I (A–I), New York, N.Y.: […] S. Converse; printed by Hezekiah Howe […], →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “freeness”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.