imaginativenessn.
/ᵻˈmadʒᵻnətᵻvnᵻs/, /ᵻˈmadʒn̩ətᵻvnᵻs/, U.S. /ᵻˈmædʒ(ə)nədɪvnᵻs/ Imaginative nature or quality.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > [noun] > imaginative quality
imaginativeness1664
1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity ii. i. xiii. 294 Ὡς therefore referrs to the Imaginativeness of the Representation.
1829 London Lit. Gaz. 12 Dec. 805/1 Here we have the skull mapped out..into ‘Estimativeness’, ‘Cogitativeness’, ‘Imaginativeness’, and all the tivenesses of the superlative science.
1846 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters (ed. 3) I. 389 The exquisite imaginativeness of the lines.
1884 R. W. Church Bacon ix. 220 Some bright touch of his incorrigible imaginativeness, ever ready to force itself in.
1948 T. Heggen Mister Roberts iii. 47 Every once in a while he had to own himself impressed at the imaginativeness of the sick-call complaints.
1993 S. Milligan & A. Clare Depression & how to survive It (1994) vi. 136 The ‘skinlessness’ manifested by many creative people actually facilitates their imaginativeness, their capacity to respond to profound, internal, preconscious associations and impulses.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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