nugatorinessn.
/ˈnjuːɡət(ə)rɪnᵻs/, /njuːˈɡeɪt(ə)rɪnᵻs/, U.S. /ˈnuɡəˌtɔrinᵻs/ Now rare.
Triviality; insignificance.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > emptiness or insubstantiality > frivolity or lack of seriousness
nugationc1450
nugacity1593
fiddling1622
frivolousnessa1631
nugality1676
futility1692
futileness1727
flippancy1746
frivolity1796
nugatoriness1853
frippery1855
fiddle1874
fribble1881
frivolling1882
fribblery1889
trifledom1903
1853 T. de Quincey in Hogg's Instructor New Ser. 10 404 The superfluous gold he supposes to be got rid of by various investments; though he himself notices the nugatoriness of any investment that simply shifts the gold from one holder to another.
1856 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters III. 328 An incapacity..quite unequalled, as far as I know, in human nugatoriness.
1894 W. Wallace tr. G. W. F. Hegel Philos. of Mind 147 Making nugatory the nugatoriness that confronts it.
1910 S. P. Thompson Life W. Thomson II. xxvi. 1195 This is a fairly good illustration of the essential nugatoriness of the electromagnetic test.
1963 M. J. Friedlander Landscape, Portrait, Still-Life vii. 167 The man who..has seen through the nugatoriness, precariousness and twofacedness of human life, will avoid the genre.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1853