Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or character of being staid; sobriety; gravity; sedateness; steadiness: as, staidness and sobriety of age.

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

  • noun The quality or state of being staid; seriousness; steadiness; sedateness; regularity; -- the opposite of wildness, or levity.

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

  • noun The state or characteristic of being staid.

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

  • noun a trait of dignified seriousness

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

staid +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • There is a whole category of ersatz adults who've mistaken the apparent staidness of the grownups (who they observe from the outside) for the qualifying characteristic of adulthood and tried to skip the scary merry-go-round.

    zornhau: The Middle Ages zornhau 2010

  • The group didn't much wish to mix with society in Geneva, partly due to unwanted attentions of countless tourists and partly due to the perceived staidness of the Genevese.

    Byron in Paradise J.S. Tennant 2011

  • Here he achieves staidness, and calmness, and philosophic tolerance.

    Le Milieu, Le Moment, La Race: Literary Naturalism in Jack London's White Fang 2010

  • And, contrary to the staidness implied by my missive of the German brewing industry we saw that it was the Germans, not the Americans, that were most divergent from "style".

    The Dichotomy of Style - Case Study: Oktoberfest 2009

  • And, contrary to the staidness implied by my missive of the German brewing industry we saw that it was the Germans, not the Americans, that were most divergent from "style".

    Archive 2009-09-01 2009

  • On its face it is a full-length JRPG, a genre famous for its staidness and adherence to formula, and yet it innovates in every single game mechanic.

    The World Ends With You - Dust Forms Words Game Of The Year 2008 Greg Tannahill 2009

  • When you read a blog chances are that it's much more current, much more opinionated, much more graphic, much more colourful, than the staidness of a book, no matter the topic.

    "The king of content-free reading, the Ur-blogger." Ann Althouse 2007

  • The expression of his face had the sharpness and staidness of old age, and the fact that his nose had a saddle-shaped depression across the middle and his nostrils turned upwards gave him a sly and sarcastic look.

    The Witch, and other stories 2004

  • Sancho had not thought it worth while to hobble Rocinante, feeling sure, from what he knew of his staidness and freedom from incontinence, that all the mares in the Cordova pastures would not lead him into an impropriety.

    Don Quixote 2002

  • "In her whole appearance and manner," we are told, "was a staidness that seemed to indicate the practical housewife, with no thought soaring beyond her domestic concerns."

    The Story of Ida Pfeiffer and Her Travels in Many Lands Anonymous

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