Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or quality of being adhesive, or of sticking or adhering; stickiness; tenacity. In phrenology, a mental faculty manifested in attachment to objects, animate or inanimate, lasting friendships, love of social intercourse, etc., supposed to be located in a special part of the brain. It is said to be strongest in women. See phrenology.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality of sticking or adhering; stickiness; tenacity of union.
  • noun (Phren.) Propensity to form and maintain attachments to persons, and to promote social intercourse.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The quality of being, or the degree to which a thing is, adhesive.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the property of sticking together (as of glue and wood) or the joining of surfaces of different composition

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

adhesive +‎ -ness

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word adhesiveness.

Examples

  • Add to this a kind of adhesiveness (we can hardly call it obstinacy or pertinacity) of temper, which can make no allowance for change of circumstances, and we think we have a tolerably clear notion of the causes of General McClellan's disasters.

    The Writings of James Russell Lowell in Prose and Poetry, Volume V Political Essays James Russell Lowell 1855

  • A splendid mineral crunch clung with damp chemical adhesiveness to the thin soles of my lavender pumps.

    An Ancient Symbol for Fire 2009

  • If only she possessed the spirit to deeply love once more the diseased and the despised that fell from the great constellations for no reasons other than poverty or illness wearing thin their adhesiveness.

    Their Dogs Came With Them Helena María Viramontes 2007

  • Children of Adam and the collection dealing with adhesiveness (homosexuality) in

    From Whitman to Wilde: A Cultural Perspective on Individualism at the Fin de Si�cle 2007

  • Though they are so deficient in adhesiveness to family ties, that wives seek other husbands, and even children desert their parents for adoptive homes, the tie of race is intensely strong, and they are remarkably affectionate to each other, sharing with each other food, clothing, and all that they possess.

    The Hawaiian Archipelago Isabella Lucy 2004

  • She was one of those soft natures whose power of adhesiveness to an acquired idea seems to be one of the special attributes of that softness.

    The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid 2003

  • The brightest spot in their character is an abnormal development of adhesiveness, popularly called affection; it is somewhat tempered by capricious ruffianism, as in children; yet it entitles them to the gratítude of travellers.

    Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo 2003

  • Sometimes the wavelets did the kneading and rolling so clumsily that the nodule was malformed, but the majority were singularly symmetrical, evidencing nice adjustment between the degree of adhesiveness of the “pug” and the applied force of the wave.

    My Tropic Isle 2003

  • Besides, from the ashes of the burned scraps of the whale, a potent lye is readily made; and whenever any adhesiveness from the back of the whale remains clinging to the side, that lye quickly exterminates it.

    Moby Dick; or the Whale 2002

  • Varnish layer thicknesses are enlarged and adhesiveness between prime and final coats are improved by priming paints or interlayer varnishes.

    3. Coating Processes 1993

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.