Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The character or state of being viewy or speculative.

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

  • noun The quality or state of being viewy, or of having unpractical views.

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

  • noun The quality of being viewy, or of having unpractical views.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

viewy +‎ -ness

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word viewiness.

Examples

  • Nothing is more remarkable in Coleridge's contributions to the _Morning Post_ than their thoroughly workmanlike character from the journalistic point of view, their avoidance of "viewiness," their strict adherence to the one or two simple points which he is endeavouring at any particular juncture in politics to enforce upon his readers, and the steadiness with which he keeps his own and his readers 'attention fixed on the special political necessities of the hour.

    English Men of Letters: Coleridge 1871

  • Some one, however, will perhaps object that I am but advocating that spurious philosophism, which shows itself in what, for want of a word, I may call “viewiness,” when I speak so much of the formation, and consequent grasp, of the intellect.

    The Idea of a University Defined and Illustrated: In Nine Discourses Delivered to the Catholics of Dublin John Henry Newman 1845

  • Among the educated classes, especially those who have been trained in the European manner, conversions are extremely rare -- sometimes on account of indifferentism and unbelief imported from the west; sometimes for want of practical seriousness of purpose in religious discussion, of which many are extremely fond; and sometimes on account of a certain slackness of mind and a tendency to vague viewiness, or symbolism and poetic fancy instead of a love of facing and gripping facts -- a peculiarity temperamental to the eastern mind.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7: Gregory XII-Infallability 1840-1916 1913

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.