Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or character of being right.
  • noun Straightness; directness: as, the rightness of a line.
  • noun Conformity with the laws regulating conduct; uprightness; rectitude; righteousness.
  • noun Propriety; appropriateness; fittingness.
  • noun Correctness; truth: as, the rightness of a conjecture.
  • noun The state or attribute of being on the right hand; hence, in psychology, the sensation or perception of such a position or attribute.

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

  • noun Straightness.
  • noun The quality or state of being right; right relation.

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

  • noun uncountable The characteristic of being right; correctness.
  • noun countable The result or product of being right.

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

  • noun according with conscience or morality
  • noun conformity to fact or truth
  • noun conformity with some esthetic standard of correctness or propriety
  • noun appropriate conduct; doing the right thing

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From right +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • America's center-rightness is supposedly proven by the fact that we don't have a government-run health-care system.

    Are we a center-right nation? Ezra Klein 2010

  • In practical terms it becomes a cost/benefit analysis as to HOW to do this, but the rightness is not in question.

    Bits Debate: Responding to Readers on Filtering - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

  • America seems to think that its rightness is something that happens.

    My Country 'Tis Of Me slyviolet 2005

  • Underlying every Constitutional right is the tacit recognition of "rightness" -- that which is appropriate, decent, respectful, and just.

    Joan Z. Shore: Ground Zero: Rights Gone Wrong 2010

  • It just gives people that conviction of rightness, which is dangerous.

    The Guardian Interview 2006

  • Think of your beliefs, a brilliant idea you came up with, the "rightness" of it is never open to question.

    13 posts from January 2009 2009

  • Think of your beliefs, a brilliant idea you came up with, the "rightness" of it is never open to question.

    Marketing 2010

  • Think of your beliefs, a brilliant idea you came up with, the "rightness" of it is never open to question.

    Winning Elections 2009

  • There were wet eyes in the house, too, and more than one person listening to her must have thought that there was a kind of rightness about the fact that the book with which she won the award last year, Just Kids, was about that time, and about the person, Robert Mapplethorpe, who experienced it along with her.

    The Saturday interview: Patti Smith 2011

  • This after looking over my bookshelves and musing for a few minutes: Clay and Talin from your Psy-Changeling books (you described their ease and interaction and 'rightness' with each other SO WELL!) and Sabriel and Touchstone from Garth Nix's Sabriel.

    Countdown to Branded By Fire: 7 days to go! Nalini Singh 2009

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