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

  • Such, then, is the cause of the wanness of my complexion.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • 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

  • 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

  • Since that little cloud was dispelled, all the temporary waste and wanness have vanished.

    Shirley, by Charlotte Bronte 2004

  • 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

  • Her clear blue eyes seemed to have grown bigger, her hair looked thicker from the wanness and thinness of her face.

    The Insulted and the Injured 2003

  • 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.

    The Life of Sir Richard Burton 2003

  • There appeared a wanness in the night, and Helena felt inexpressibly dreary.

    The Trespasser 2003

  • 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

  • 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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