Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or character of being set, in any sense.
  • noun A law; statute.

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

  • noun The quality or state of being set; formality; obstinacy.

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

  • noun The quality or state of being set; formality; obstinacy.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

set +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • But Persis has the kind of setness that doesn't take no account of reason.

    Other People's Business The Romantic Career of the Practical Miss Dale Harriet L. Smith

  • Dana's having inherited "setness" for his patrimony.

    Meadow Grass Tales of New England Life Alice Brown 1902

  • Samuel Foster Crittenden as I do; and the reason he is so congenial with his mules is that he is so like them in "setness" of disposition.

    Over Paradise Ridge A Romance Maria Thompson Daviess 1898

  • But we found that when we deviated from the specific setness of the mathematical code that underlies is the simple algorithm, crochet three, increase one.

    Margaret Wertheim on the beautiful math of coral Margaret Wertheim 2009

  • But we found that when we deviated from the specific setness of the mathematical code that underlies is the simple algorithm, crochet three, increase one.

    Margaret Wertheim on the beautiful math of coral Margaret Wertheim 2009

  • But we found that when we deviated from the specific setness of the mathematical code that underlies is the simple algorithm, crochet three, increase one.

    Margaret Wertheim on the beautiful math of coral Margaret Wertheim 2009

  • A stray sunbeam, too, fluttered down on the floor like a pitying spirit, to light up that pale, thin face, whose classic outlines had now a sharp, yellow setness, like that of swooning or death; it seemed to linger compassionately on the sunken, wasted cheeks, on the long black lashes that fell over the deep hollows beneath the eyes like a funereal veil.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 49, November, 1861 Various

  • Little by little his features took on that look of hard and dangerous setness which always seemed so doubly threatening upon his placidly round countenance.

    Then I'll Come Back to You Larry Evans

  • The face was lined as if the stress of living had drawn its muscles into habitual tensity, and except when a smile relieved the setness of the mouth his countenance was stern to severity.

    Flood Tide Sara Ware Bassett 1920

  • They do so regard us, though; and, with true British setness, I suppose they always will.

    Europe Revised 1910

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