remotenessn.
/rᵻˈməʊtnəs/, U.S. /rəˈmoʊtnəs/, /riˈmoʊtnəs/ 1. The state, condition, or fact of being remote (in various senses).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > distance > distance or farness > [noun]
farness1398
remotionc1425
distance1440
longinquityc1550
distancy1597
remoteness1607
removednessa1616
elongation1616
far-offness1873
far-awayness1888
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [noun] > strangeness
strangenessc1386
uncouthness1435
alangeness1440
estrangeness1549
unwontness1552
unkethness1564
foreignness1611
remotenessa1719
1607 tr. L. Ducci Ars Aulica xii. 107 The places giue assurance, promising secrecie by their remotenesse from the knowledge of men.
1643 J. Milton Doctr. Divorce 6 The absence and remotenes of a helper.
1667 J. Dryden Let. to Sir R. Howard in Annus Mirabilis 1666 Pref. Anything that showes remoteness of thought, or labour in the Writer.
a1719 J. Addison Dialogues Medals in Wks. (1721) I. ii. 525 His obscurities..generally arise from the remoteness of the Customs, Persons, and Things he alludes to.
1744 G. Berkeley Siris (ESTC T72826) §25 The timber, by its remoteness from water carriage, is of small value.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. ii. 433 The term..ought not to be a great deal longer than what was necessary for that purpose; lest the remoteness of the interest should discourage too much this attention. View more context for this quotation
1830 J. F. W. Herschel Prelim. Disc. Study Nat. Philos. 279 The same reasoning which places the stars at such immeasurable remoteness, exalts them..into glorious bodies.
1883 W. Black Shandon Bells xxvi The papers..seemed a little sad sometimes... There is a kind of remoteness about them.
1924 A. Mawer & F. M. Stenton Introd. Surv. Eng. Place-names ix. 174 Its chief weakness is the remoteness of the sound-association between the original compound name and the suggested simple derivative.
1976 Gramophone Sept. 453/3 The remoteness of the console from the pipework brought to the ear less than 100 per cent of the complex score.
2000 L. Forbes Fish, Blood & Bone i. xvi. 98 Timbuktu..no longer had such legendary connotations of hellish remoteness after..[it] was established as a long-haul destination for ‘adventure’ package tours.
2. A remote place, region, or part.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > a land or country > part of country or district > [noun] > remote or outlying area
nookc1480
out-country1639
outland1645
remoteness1694
backwoods1709
back county1775
remote1838
Mountains of the Moon1852
nowhere1871
the sticks1899
way back1901
downstate1905
back o' Bourke1918
far-back1926
woop woop1926
boohai?1946
bundu1946
Dogpatch1946
outback1954
toolies1961
upstate1965
Watford1973
1694 T. Taylor tr. N. Malebranche Treat. Search after Truth ii. 122 Is it not evident that there are outnesses [Fr. des dehors], and remotenesses, and intelligible spaces in the intelligible world, which is the Immediate Object of our Mind?
1716 J. Dryden tr. C.-A. Dufresnoy Art of Painting 175 Titian..employ'd brown and earthly Colours upon the forepart, and..reserv'd his greatest Lights for Remotenesses, and the back Parts of his Landscapes.
1854 N. P. Willis Let. 6 Aug. in Out-doors at Idlewild (1855) xx. 134 But it does not take precipices and groves to make these close remotenesses.
1880 ‘M. Twain’ Tramp Abroad xxxii. 345 Many..regions which were unvisited and unknown remotenesses a hundred years ago, are in our days a buzzing hive of restless strangers every summer.
1930 Jrnl. Philos. 27 343 The object keeps its place, and similarly the tone keeps its time, every time-point is changeless, but it flees to the remotenesses of consciousness.
1996 Antigonish Rev. Autumn 117 [We] follow geological formations from island to island, count nesting pairs of warblers..on each visited remoteness, cook simple meals, [etc.].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1607