sordidityn.

1584 Copie of Let. conc. Erle of Leycester 197 As for valeur, he hath as much as hath a mouse: his magnanimity, is base sordiditie.

1624 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy (ed. 2) i. ii. iii. xii. 101 That greedinesse in getting, tenacity in keeping, sordidity in spending.

1649 J. Evelyn tr. F. de La Mothe Le Vayer Of Liberty & Servitude v. 100 The like sordidityes, which it were a shame to report.

1654 R. Vilvain Theoremata Theologica vii. 194 So great glory cannot sort or sute with such sordidity.

1917 V. Woolf Diary 22 Nov. (1977) I. 80 Hearing women abuse each other & at the noise others come running with delight—all this sordidity made me think him rather likely to be right.

1923 Times Lit. Suppl. 23 Aug. 554/1 His [sc. Defoe's] very precise and solid account of licence, adventure, and sordidity [in Roxana].

1964 A. Swinson Six Minutes to Sunset viii. 150 Carson then switched his attack to the political manœuvring, condemning it for its duplicity and sordidity.

1978 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Dec. 1382/2 Empson seems to insist that one cannot truly admire him without agreeing with him about the sordidity of Englit.

1600 Abp. G. Abbot Expos. Prophet Ionah 401 The backe shall be disguised with sordidity of sackcloth.

1657 R. Tomlinson tr. J. de Renou Medicinal Materials i, in Medicinal Dispensatory sig. Eee4^v A..dense Gumme, conspurcated with no sordidity.

1927 V. Woolf Let. 7 Feb. (1977) III. 326 Here it is pouring; rain coming through the roof; the sordidity too much for me even.

1936 S. Smith Novel on Yellow Paper 152 The lovely deep rich olive green and brown and yellow sordidity of Sickert's London interiors.

1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 30 May 291/1 As the inevitable midnight flittings required less and less transport for the furniture and a large family grew up in an atmosphere of increasing poverty, sordidity and even occasional violence, James observed the domestic scene with the eye of an artist.