drearinessn.
/ˈdrɪərɪnɪs/ The quality or state or being dreary.† 1. Sadness, sorrowfulness, dolefulness. Obsolete (except as influenced by 2: ‘desolate sadness’).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > [noun] > state or condition of
drearinessa1000
woeOE
sorrinessOE
sorrowfulnessa1250
heavinessc1275
sorrownessc1300
dreariheada1325
moanc1390
sadnessc1400
grievedness1571
ruthfulness1596
mournfulness1633
waila1682
drearihood1817
woebegoneness1841
tristfulness1847
a1000 Wærferð tr. Gregory Dialogues (Hatton) Gif he ne gehulpe hire sarlican dreorinysse.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Ecclus. iv. 8 Bowe doun to the pore thin ere without drerynesse.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 22667 For drerines þai salle be drad.
c1450 Mirour Saluacioun 3221 Drerynesse trembling and drede cristis threfolde Orisoune.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 197 He fand her lyeng..in dreirrines, lamentatioune, and mourneng sair.
1863 ‘G. Eliot’ Romola I. v. 86 She looked with a sad dreariness in her young face at the lifeless objects around her.
2.
a. Dismalness, desolateness, gloom.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > [noun] > gloomy quality
drear1563
dreariment1579
drearihead1591
cloudinessa1600
dismalness1620
dolesomeness1625
cheerlessnessa1631
joylessnessa1631
drearihood1647
clouding1654
dismality1723
dreariness1727
mirthlessness1727
sombre1795
undelighta1822
sombreness1847
sombrousness1847
unhomelikeness1858
drearness1861
comfortlessness1865
unhomeliness1879
1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Dreeriness, dismalness.
1775 S. Johnson Journey W. Islands 73 Passing on through the dreariness of solitude.
1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. l. 472 We had become so familiar with the dreariness of Greenland.
b. Oppressively uninteresting character.
ΚΠ
1886 Athenæum 30 Oct. 562/3 The..incessant and..gratuitous dreariness of the story.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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n.a1000