Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The condition or quality of being handsome.
  • noun Favor; approval; graciousness.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality of being handsome.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The quality of being handsome.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the quality of having regular well-defined features (especially of a man)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

handsome +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • Kwanten has a face that is like a cartoon version of dim-witted handsomeness, which is what makes him so perfect on "True Blood."

    Marshall Fine: HuffPost Review: Griff the Invisible Marshall Fine 2011

  • The tall, dark one with the angular face was Thomas; even at Ruth's age, when he'd been only four, Thomas had had a leading man's kind of handsomeness -- a combination of poise and thuggery that, in his teenage years, gave him the seeming confidence of a much older man.

    Excerpt: A Widow For One Year by John Irving 1998

  • "Well, it's the kind of handsomeness that makes me want to scratch her in the face," rejoined Gerty, with the unshakable courage of her impressions.

    The Wheel of Life Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow 1909

  • His was a wild, uncivilized kind of handsomeness, she thought, like that of a noble, untamed creature of the forest, changed by enchantment into a man and thrust into modern clothes.

    The Port of Adventure 1889

  • The young man was handsome, and not with that vulgar handsomeness which is fairly common among the better kind of shop-walkers and counter-keepers.

    The Unclassed George Gissing 1880

  • They crossed to the farther side of the river, where the influence of the Gothic monument threw a distinction even over the Parisian smartnesses -- the municipal rule and measure, the importunate symmetries, the "handsomeness" of everything, the extravagance of gaslight, the perpetual click on the neat bridges.

    The Tragic Muse Henry James 1879

  • I loved his sand hair, his accidental handsomeness.

    The Adults Alison Espach 2011

  • I loved his sand hair, his accidental handsomeness.

    The Adults Alison Espach 2011

  • I would have guessed something like 10 million Legos and 87 really hard-working Lego geeks, but my powers of estimation pale in comparison to my handsomeness and ability to type the words of the good sentences to read and such, etc.

    But Is There Central Heating?: A Real Lego House [Video] 2010

  • They are handsome cars, true, but by now the handsomeness feels rote.

    When Vroom Conquers Cuteness Dan Neil 2011

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