sordidness

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Latin sordidusder. Middle English sordid French sordideder. English sordid 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 sordidness From sordid + -ness.

1. The quality or state of being sordid.

   “[W]e muſt not take this mercifull indulgence given to our defectuoſities, as a diſpenſation for the ſordidnes of our loves, but rather in a holy effect and contention of gratitude, ſtrain to love God the more purely, and irreſpectively to our ſelves, in regard of the tranſcendent benignity of this diſpenſation.”

   “Every possible care was taken of him, and in a day or two he was able to walk into the study again, where he sat gazing at the sordidness and unneatness of the apartment, the strange festoons and drapery of spiders' webs, […]”

2. The product or result of being sordid.

   “His was a nature—weak I own—that felt a sordidness in narrow means and their attendants; the ugliness of poverty pained his spirit.”