lessnessn.
/ˈlɛsnᵻs/, U.S. /ˈlɛsnᵻs/ rare.
The fact or condition of being smaller or of lesser extent than another; the fact or condition of being inferior. Also: the fact or condition of having, using, or producing less.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > [noun]
poornessa1382
povertya1387
bada1425
lessness?a1425
worsenessa1425
nethertyc1443
minority1533
badness1539
lesserness1540
evilness1547
meanness1556
punyship1581
inferiority1599
under1600
worserness1602
inferiorness1674
deteriority1692
baddishness1824
shoddiness1886
crumbiness1949
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 128 (MED) And for þi þer ar put 4 spicez of it [sc. scab], which ar not bot greez of morenez & of lessenesse [L. minoritatis], as was said of obtalmie.
a1450 Musical Treat. in Speculum (1935) 10 269 Arithmetricke..tretyth of mornesse & lasnes of numbir.
1635 A. Gil Sacred Philos. Holy Script. i. ii. 59 Otherwise there should bee a greaternesse in being, and a lessenesse in working.
1684 Aristoteles Master-piece xiv. 113 They [sc. the Stones in Women, commonly called the Testicles] differ from those of Men in figure, by reason of their lessness and flatness.
1868 A. Sandeman Pelicotetics 188 The Multiple Test of the greaterness and lessness of the ratio.
1889 H. C. G. Moule Secret Prayer (1890) v. 84 Unspeakable lessness, dependence and obligation.
1961 R. B. Long Sentence & its Parts iv. 99 Sometimes negation is semantically specialized to convey meanings of ‘lessness’, as in I don't have a dime.
1978 R. Watson & M. Gray Penguin Bk. Bicycle iii. 97 The philosophy of ‘lessness’ creates a purity and an austerity that has almost disappeared from other manufactured goods.
2003 Guardian 26 June ii. 2/1 Back in the anorexic 1990s, when Penguin issued bite-sized extracts from classics at 60p..the message was lessness.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.?a1425