Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The quality of being quaint.
  • noun Fancifulness; oddity; whimsicality; queerness; especially, odd, old-fashioned appearance or manner.

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

  • noun The quality of being quaint.

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

  • noun obsolete Cunning; craftiness.
  • noun obsolete Skill, artfulness.
  • noun obsolete Primness, fastidiousness, preciousness.
  • noun The state or fact of being quaint; having old-fashioned charm.

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

  • noun the quality of being quaint and old-fashioned
  • noun strangeness as a consequence of being old fashioned

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From quaint +‎ -ness.

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Examples

  • There's a certain quaintness to the whole thing, like owning a rotary telephone.

    Wednesday Comics may be quaint yet daring | Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources – Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment 2009

  • My paternal grandfather and his family were native Gaelic speakers (from the west coast mainland north of Skye) and his parents spoke only very little English; my grandfather and a number of his siblingsmade it their business to become fluent in English - cultural quaintness is all very well, but they had a living to make.

    Skye No More Jeff 2007

  • It was bare to the point of discomfort, and had it not been for a certain quaintness in the shape of the few articles to be seen there, I should have experienced a decided feeling of repulsion, so pronounced was the contrast between this poverty-stricken interior and the polished bearing of its owner.

    The Filigree Ball 1903

  • I have a great love for this plain quaintness of speech — it is often ludicrous, but it as often beautiful — & one who wishes to write good poetry now should read old prose.

    Letter 258 1797

  • Indeed, there is a certain quaintness and pre-modern naivite in the court’s tendency to look at the role it would prefer things play in our society as being inherent in the nature of the thing itself rather than as being a social construct reflecting a social role that could be otherwise.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » The First Amendment and Advertisements of Legal Prostitution 2010

  • I think that their quaintness is a sufficient apology for the following little children's stories.

    Tales of Old Japan Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford Redesdale 1876

  • It is a sort of condensation of quaintness, that is quite without a rival even in this land of laboured and curious architecture.

    A Residence in France Cooper, J Fenimore 1836

  • I believe if something is well-written that it rises above any 'quaintness' of dialogue that may seem very dated today.

    Twenty Years Ago the Classics Were Different 2007

  • But compared to this, does Alberto Gonzales 'stated "quaintness" of the Geneva Conventions seem more compassionate?

    Michael Ames: D��j�� vu in a Documentary: History's First Take in The Battle of Algiers 2008

  • Some might laugh at the "quaintness" of planting the Russian flag on the ocean floor.

    Emerging Conflict Over the Arctic 2007

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