sweetness
nounUK /ˈswiːtnəs/ · US /ˈswitnəs/
Etymology From Middle English swetnes, swetnesse, from Old English swētnes (“sweetness”), from Proto-West Germanic *swōtinassī (“sweetness”), equivalent to sweet + -ness. Cognate with West Frisian swietens (“sweetness”), obsolete Dutch zoetenis (“sweetness”), Old High German swuoznessi, suoznessi (“sweetness”).
1
The condition of being sweet (all senses).
- At the same time, that pain is soothed by the brain’s perception of sweetness on a totally different area of your taste buds.2024 June 6, Brooke Younger, “What Is Swicy, and Why Do You Need It in Your Life?”, in Cozymeal:
2
A pleasant disposition; kindness.
- Ruth's overwhelming sweetness made Robert forget about his hopelessly low school grades.
3
The quality of giving pleasure to the mind or senses, pleasantness, agreeableness.
- The thirſt of raigne and ſweetnes of a crowne, […] / Moou’d me to menage armes againſt thy ſtate.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii:
- Quiet people too, for I think that about this time a sort of remorseful tenderness comes over the bullies and the nagsters, so that they go about gently and deprecatingly, hoping by one day's record sweetness to outface the year's blusterings.1906, Violet Hunt, The Workaday Woman, page 1:
4
Informal A term of address for one's sweetheart.
- Sweetness, sweetness, I was only joking when I said / I'd like to smash every tooth in your head.1986, The Smiths (band), Bigmouth Strikes Again (song)
- "Hey sweetness," he said. "How was practice?"2011, Kimberly Gibney, Over the Edge, page 66:
- Synonyms
- dulceness, dulciness, dulcitude, saccharinity, sugariness, sweetness
- Antonyms
- bitterness, sourness
- Derived terms
- sweetness and light
- Related terms
- sweet
- Hypernyms
- flavour
- Hyponyms
- chocolateness, syrupiness
- Holonyms
- five basic tastes