thingnessn.
/ˈθɪŋnᵻs/, U.S. /ˈθɪŋnᵻs/ The fact or character of being a thing (sometimes spec. as distinct from a person); reality; actuality.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [noun] > reality or quality of being real
reality1545
formality1570
trueness1604
realness1612
thatness1643
positivity1659
actualness1668
positiveness1668
thingsomeness1674
somethingness1675
thingship1697
authenticity1839
thingness1840
truth1842
isness1865
thinginess1891
1840 Amer. Phrenol. Jrnl. 1 Apr. 329 On looking at any thing, say a book, the first impression that enters the mind, is its individuality or its thingness—that it is a certain something.
1896 A. C. Fraser Philos. Theism 2nd Ser. vi. 150 Personality instead of thingness is the highest form under which man..can conceive of God.
1930 W. Lewis Apes of God ix. 288 Health as intended by Kalman is ‘thingness’ right enough! It is vegetable bulk, it is unconsciousness.
1967 S. Beckett No's Knife 34 Into what nightmare thingness am I fallen?
1998 D. Mao Solid Obj. i. 46 Sartre aptly captures Woolf's interest in both the thingness of the thing itself and the tendency of the mind to make comparisons in the thing's despite.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1840