separateness

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree English separate Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English separateness From separate + -ness.

1. The property of being separate.

   “In “The Liberation,” a 30‐yearold^([sic]) college teacher breaks out of the psychic loneliness of a smothering family into the redeeming sense of her separateness; she had been kept from the person she really was.”

   “A prideful sense of separateness prevails toward what Mrs. Moskowitz called “frenetic” Manhattan and “the hipper parts of Brooklyn.””