meltingnessn.
/ˈmɛltɪŋnᵻs/, U.S. /ˈmɛltɪŋnᵻs/ The quality of being melting; the tendency to express or affect a person with tender feelings. Also: the tendency to melt or disintegrate.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > tenderness > [noun]
softnessa1200
softheadc1350
tendresse1390
consciencea1393
tendernessa1400
suavitude1512
soft-heartedness1571
tender-heartedness1607
meltingness1622
tenerity1623
tender1671
tendre1673
mild-heartedness1849
the mind > emotion > compassion > quality of exciting pity > [noun]
piteousnessa1586
meltingness1622
pathos1668
pitiableness1694
touchingnessa1750
pitiability1865
pitifulness1897
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > sentimentality > [noun] > that which appeals to sentimentality > state or quality
meltingness1622
1622 J. Mabbe tr. M. Alemán Rogue ii. 38 With the..meltingnesse of their language, they moue many to pitie.
1751 J. Cleland Mem. Coxcomb 148 Sincere in her desires..she at length met mine with a meltingness that restored her even to her beauty, and to her sex.
1825 T. Doubleday Babington v. iii. 134 Had thy soft eyes less of persuasion in them,..Thy silvery-falling tones less meltingness.
1879 G. Meredith Egoist III. x. 204 She ran through her brain for a suggestion to win a sign of meltingness if not esteem from her father.
1987 Newsweek (Nexis) 12 Jan. 64 In Correggio there is a meltingness, a sweet commingling of the spiritual and the sensual.
1999 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 3 Apr. w5 Both salads are clean and edible, but they distract from the nearly raw duck breast, undermining its delicacy, its crimson meltingness.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1622