Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Steadfastness, as in purpose or affection; faithfulness.
  • noun The condition or quality of being constant; changelessness.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A constant job: as, “a constancy and good wages promised for a good workman,”
  • noun Fixedness; a standing firm; hence, immutability; unalterable continuance; a permanent state.
  • noun Fixedness or firmness of mind; persevering resolution; steady, unshaken determination; particularly, firmness of mind under sufferings, steadfastness in attachments, perseverance in enterprise, or stability in love or friendship.
  • noun Certainty; veracity; reality.
  • noun Synonyms Permanence; uniformity; regularity. Industry, Application, etc. (see assiduity); Faithfulness, Fidelity, etc. (see firmness), steadfastness, tenacity.

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

  • noun The state or quality of being constant or steadfast; freedom from change; stability; fixedness; immutability.
  • noun Fixedness or firmness of mind; persevering resolution; especially, firmness of mind under sufferings, steadiness in attachments, or perseverance in enterprise; stability; fidelity.

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

  • noun uncountable The quality of being constant; steadiness or faithfulness in action, affections, purpose, etc.
  • noun countable An unchanging quality or characteristic of a person or thing.

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

  • noun faithfulness and dependability in personal attachments (especially sexual fidelity)
  • noun (psychology) the tendency for perceived objects to give rise to very similar perceptual experiences in spite of wide variations in the conditions of observation
  • noun the quality of being enduring and free from change or variation

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • Such constancy is predicated upon the utter hopelessness of his love.

    Byron and Romantic Occidentalism 2008

  • Returning to the inevitable unfolding of things is called constancy

    The Way of the Fertile Soul Randine Lewis 2007

  • The visual representation of constancy is found in the slowly animating photographic image of our male "stand in" for Blake, which in the first two stanzas is semi-transparently mapped onto the walls of London.

    William Blake and the Study of Virtual Space: Adapting 'The Crystal Cabinet' to a New Medium 2005

  • The novel depicts this deeply seated constancy from the beginning to the end.

    Grazia Deledda: Voice of Sardinia 2002

  • What they give me seems always of pure grace, and my friends have been very liberal in constancy and kindness to me, and therefore when I am inclined to desire other or more demonstration of regard than I receive from them, I always blame myself for a sort of presumptuous trespassing on the liberty of love which should, I think, be unquestioned.

    Further Records, 1848-1883: A Series of Letters 1891

  • How many different conceptions are conveyed by the terms constancy and variability?

    Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation Hugo de Vries 1891

  • "I forget nothing, Marah Rocke; nor do I violate this sanctuary of sorrow" – here he sank his voice below his usual low tones – "when I speak of the passion that maddened my youth and withered my manhood – a passion whose intensity was its excuse for all extravagances and whose enduring constancy is its final, full justification!"

    The Hidden Hand 1888

  • Whatever your roving fancies may say, there is a virtue in constancy which has a reward above all that fickle change can bestow, giving strength and purity to every affection of life, and even throwing additional grace about the flowers which bloom in our native fields.

    Rural Hours 1887

  • And this some call constancy, greatness, and firmness of mind, and a kind of approach to unchangeableness; thus in effect clothing a devilish quality with a divine attribute.

    Sermons Preached Upon Several Occasions. Vol. IV. 1634-1716 1823

  • The design of the gospel is to engage us in constancy and perseverance in the service of God, by showing us how much depends upon our not drawing back, and by showing us how Christ loved us to the end, and thereby engaged us to love him to the end.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721

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