Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The state or appearance of being wan; paleness; a sallow, dead, pale color: as, the wanness of the cheeks after a fever.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The quality or state of being wan; a sallow, dead, pale color; paleness; pallor.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun the state of being
wan ;pallor
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun unnatural lack of color in the skin (as from bruising or sickness or emotional distress)
Etymologies
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Examples
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Such, then, is the cause of the wanness of my complexion.
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About his large bright eyes that used to be so merry there was a wanness and a restlessness that changed them altogether. 1 cannot use the expression that he looked old.
Bleak House 2007
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The more than usual wildness and wanness of his looks, with the whole of his conduct, seemed to confirm all her former terrors; and, when he roughly asked her how she did, Ellena had not sufficient presence of mind to answer that she was ill.
The Italian 2004
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Since that little cloud was dispelled, all the temporary waste and wanness have vanished.
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The animated expression of his countenance was unchanged; yet, when the first glow of joy had faded from it, and Ellena had leisure to observe its wanness, she understood, too certainly, that he had been a prisoner in the
The Italian 2004
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Her clear blue eyes seemed to have grown bigger, her hair looked thicker from the wanness and thinness of her face.
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Pallor adorneth him, as on their And pallor ornamenting brow latest nights, The moons as though with pallor still embellished 'Twere wanness such as waning thou mayst see. crescents show.
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There appeared a wanness in the night, and Helena felt inexpressibly dreary.
The Trespasser 2003
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She had suffered great humiliation at the hands of her brothers, there was still a certain wanness round her eyes, the remains of tears of anger and helpless indignation, and the bitterness of insulted sex.
The Plumed Serpent 2003
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Strether stared at him with a little of the wanness, no doubt, that the vision of more to “make out” could scarce help producing.
The Ambassadors 2003
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