besottedness

• I love her passionately," and he threw a pebble in the water farther than he had yet; "but she is so pure, so delicate, that when I approach her, in spite of my besottedness, my love grows lambent. —  The Morgesons
• I did warn him freely, but he was stout in his besottedness. —  The Black Arrow
• It was in the matter of some tax-titles which the magnate had acquired, and, in court, Joe treated the case with such horrifying simplicity that it seemed almost credible that the great man had counted upon the ignorance and besottedness of Joe's client -- a hard-drinking, disreputable old farmer -- to get his land away from him without paying for it. —  The Conquest of Canaan
• He tramped, begged and stole, lied or threatened as the case might warrant, and drank to besottedness whenever he got the chance. —  The Turtles of Tasman
• Italians, lovers of freedom and unrestraint, were the first to fill the world with tales about the moral besottedness of Luther! —  Luther Examined and Reexamined A Review of Catholic Criticism and a Plea for Revaluation

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms