lightness
nounEtymology From Middle English lightnes, lightnesse, from Old English *lēohtnes (“lightness”) (compare Old English lēohtmōdnes (“lightness”, literally “light-moodedness”), līhtingnes (“lightness, alleviation”)); equivalent to light (“not heavy”, adjective) + -ness (suffix forming nouns). Cognate with Middle Low German luchtnisse, lüchtnisse (“lightness, frivolity, joyfulness”).
1
The state of having little (or less) weight, or little force.
- The unique chassis design is largely the secret of the lightness of the locomotive.1960 January, “The Swindon Type "4" diesel-hydraulic units”, in Trains Illustrated, page 39:
2
Agility of movement.
3
Freedom from worry.
- In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, “The Tutor's Daughter”, in Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion, page 266:
4
Levity, frivolity; inconsistency.
- Seneca […] accounts it a filthy lightness in men, every day to lay new foundations of their life, but who doth otherwise?, New York 2001, p.75
- And if the sudden and unannounced arrival of Miss Melhuish at "The Turrets" contained any element of surprise for him, his habitual imperturbability enabled him to pass it off with disarming lightness.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London: