presentness

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *per-

Proto-Indo-European *preh₂-

Proto-Indo-European *-i

Proto-Indo-European *préh₂i?

Proto-Italic *prai

Proto-Italic *prai-

Latin prae-

Proto-Indo-European *h₁es-

Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti

Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH-

Proto-Indo-European *-t

Proto-Indo-European *bʰúHt

Proto-Italic *ezom~*som

Archaic Latin 𐌄𐌔𐌏𐌌 (esom)

Old Latin esum

Latin sum

Latin praesum

Proto-Indo-European *-onts

Latin -ns

Latin praesens

Old French presentbor.

Middle English present

English present

Proto-Germanic *-in-

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti

Proto-Germanic *-ōną

Proto-Germanic *-inōną

Proto-Indo-European *-dyé-der.

Proto-Germanic *-atjaną

Proto-Indo-European *-tus

Proto-Germanic *-þuz

Proto-Germanic *-assuz

Proto-Germanic *-inassuz

Proto-West Germanic *-nassī

Old English -nes

Middle English -nesse

English -ness

English presentness

From present + -ness.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛzəntnəs/
• Rhymes: -ɛzəntnəs

Noun

presentness (usually uncountable, plural presentnesses)

1. The characteristic of being present (in either place or time).

   Synonym: presence

   Antonyms: absentness, absence

   Coordinate terms: (with regards to place) awayness, (with regards to time) futureness / futurity / pastness

   • 1996, Theatrical Space and Historical Place in Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus‎^[1], page 155:

     Our apparent immediacy, our presentness on stage is already a deferral and a delay. The god’s explanation for his chiding question (“You have delayed for a long time”) belongs to the formulation of différance.

   • 2008, The Transformative Power of Performance, page 94:

     The enemies of theatre thus distinguished between two types of presence in the theatre: the presentness created by the actor’s semiotic body in the portrayal of a fictional character’s passionate actions, and the presentness exerted by the actor’s phenomenal body.

   • 2008 March 9, James Traub, “The Celebrity Solution”, in The New York Times Magazine‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 October 2025:

     In recent years, stars have learned that their intense presentness in people’s daily lives and their access to the uppermost realms of politics, business and the media offer them a peculiar kind of moral position, should they care to use it.

Translations

characteristic of being present (in either place or time) — see also presence

• French: présence (fr) f; (neologism) présentité f