whiteness
noun/ˈwaɪtnəs/ · /ˈʍaɪtnəs/
Etymology Inherited from Middle English whitenesse, whitnesse, whytnesse, hwitnesse, from Old English hwītnes (“whiteness”), equivalent to white + -ness.
1
The state or quality of being white (all senses).
- [Snow] may […] exchange its whiteness for yellowness, without losing its right to be called snow; […]1666, Robert Boyle, Origin of Forms and Qualities according to the Corpuscular Philosophy:
2
Human sciences, Sciences, Social science, Sociology Capitalized, Often The quality of being white (in the racial sense).
- As a white body, I have not had to face my whiteness; insofar as the world is oriented around whiteness, I rarely have to turn my attention back onto myself, as do the black and brown bodies that are “stopped” or “held up” for being out of place […]2013, Shelley M. Park, Mothering Queerly, Queering Motherhood, page 42:
3
Mathematics, Sciences, Statistics Of a stochastic process The quality of being white noise.
- Despite this criticism, this check for whiteness of a time series enjoys much popularity as it is very easy to carry out.2005, Helmut Lütkepohl, New Introduction to Multiple Time Series Analysis, page 161:
- Antonyms
- blackness, Blackness
- Derived terms
- antiwhiteness, political whiteness, prowhiteness, whiteness studies