lightness
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English lightnes, lightnesse,[1] from Old English līhtnes; equivalent to light (“bright, luminous”, adjective) + -ness (suffix forming nouns).
Noun
lightness (countable and uncountable, plural lightnesses)
- (uncountable) the condition of being illuminated
- (uncountable) the relative whiteness or transparency of a colour
- (countable) The product of being illuminated.
Translations
the condition of being illuminated
|
the relative whiteness or transparency of a colour
|
the product of being illuminated
Etymology 2
From Middle English lightnes, lightnesse,[2]; equivalent to light (“not heavy”, adjective) + -ness (suffix forming nouns).
Noun
lightness (uncountable)
- The state of having little weight, or little force.
- Agility of movement.
- Freedom from worry.
- 1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, “The Tutor's Daughter”, in Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion, page 266:
- In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.
- Levity, frivolity; inconsistency.
- Template:RQ:RBrtn AntmyMlncly, New York 2001, p.75:
- Seneca […] accounts it a filthy lightness in men, every day to lay new foundations of their life, but who doth otherwise?
- Template:RQ:RBrtn AntmyMlncly, New York 2001, p.75:
Translations
the state of having little weight
References
- ^ “lightnes(se, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2018, retrieved 8 November 2019.
- ^ “lightnes(se, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2018, retrieved 8 November 2019.