formlessness
English
Etymology
Etymology tree
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfɔːmləsnəs/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfɔɹmləsnəs/
Noun
formlessness (countable and uncountable, plural formlessnesses)
- The quality of being formless.
- 1800, John Ruskin, Proserpina[1], Lovell, Coryell and Company, page 292:
- The way by light and shade is, on the contrary, taken by men of the highest powers of though, and most earnest desire for truth ; they long for light, and for knowledge of all tthat light can show. But seeking for light, they perceive also darkness ; seeking for truth and substance, they find vanity. They look for form in the earth.—for dawn in the sky ; and seeking these, they find formlessness in the earth, and night in the sky.
- 1855, Tayler Lewis, The Six Days of Creation[2], John Chapman, page 61:
- There also in it, as used both by poets and philosophers, a similar idea of formlessness, but with more of a metaphysical reference to inward law or organization than to mere outward shape.
- 2006, Nicholas Antongiavanni [pseudonym; Michael Anton], The Suit: A Machiavellian Approach to Men's Style, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 56:
- But in truth neither is either, and both must be avoided. In sum, with the Sack, its formlessness is dangerous; with the Designer, its extremity is.
Translations
quality of being amorphous
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