sweetness
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English swetnes, swetnesse, from Old English swētnes (“sweetness”), from Proto-West Germanic *swōtinassī (“sweetness”), equivalent to sweet + -ness. Cognate with West Frisian swietens (“sweetness”), obsolete Dutch zoetenis (“sweetness”), Old High German swuoznessi, suoznessi (“sweetness”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: swēt'nəs, IPA(key): /ˈswiːtnəs/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈswitnəs/
Audio (General American): (file) - Hyphenation: sweet‧ness
Noun
sweetness (countable and uncountable, plural sweetnesses)
- The condition of being sweet (all senses).
- A pleasant disposition; kindness.
- Ruth's overwhelming sweetness made Robert forget about his hopelessly low school grades.
- The quality of giving pleasure to the mind or senses, pleasantness, agreeableness.
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii:
- The thirſt of raigne and ſweetnes of a crowne, […] / Moou’d me to menage armes againſt thy ſtate.
- (informal) Term of address for one's sweetheart.
- 1986, The Smiths (band), Bigmouth Strikes Again (song)
- Sweetness, sweetness, I was only joking when I said / I'd like to smash every tooth in your head.
- 2011, Kimberly Gibney, Over the Edge, page 66:
- "Hey sweetness," he said. "How was practice?"
- 1986, The Smiths (band), Bigmouth Strikes Again (song)
Derived terms
Translations
condition of being sweet or sugary
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pleasant disposition — see also kindness
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading
sweetness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
sweetness (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms suffixed with -ness
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
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