miscellaneousnessn.
/ˌmɪsəˈleɪnɪəsnəs/, U.S. /ˌmɪsəˈleɪniəsnəs/, /ˌmɪsəˈleɪnjəsnəs/ Miscellaneous quality, character, or condition; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > variety > [noun]
manifoldnesseOE
serenessa1300
diversityc1340
sundernessc1390
diversenessa1400
seretya1400
variancea1400
sundryhead?a1425
sundrinessa1450
variety1548
multivariety1601
diversifying1611
inconstancy1646
heterogeneity1651
variousness1651
heterogeneousness1662
variegation1668
multifariousness1684
miscellaneousness1727
miscellaneity1778
versatility1802
omnifariousness1806
motleyness1819
many-headedness1847
heterology1854
unhomogeneity1862
diversitude1870
variedness1897
polycentricity1915
inhomogeneity1916
1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Miscellaneousness, mixture or mixedness together without Order.
1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Miscellaneousness, composition of various kinds.
1872 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch I. ii. xxii. 385 The..miscellaneousness of Rome, which made the mind flexible with constant comparison.
a1891 J. R. Lowell Old Eng. Dramatists (1892) iii. 59 The gratuitous miscellaneousness of plot..in some of the plays of John Webster.
1921 Jrnl. Philos. 18 475 The ideal text would have philosophical breadth; the text before us has only miscellaneousness.
1974 J. I. M. Stewart Gaudy (1976) xii. 230 Its chief characteristic is a restless miscellaneousness.
1993 Amer. Hist. Rev. 98 1572/1 Pieterse's introductory outline of the structure of the book..reflects the miscellaneousness that it attempts to alleviate.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1727