Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being waste or desolate; desolation.

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

  • noun The quality or state of being waste; a desolate state or condition; desolation.
  • noun rare That which is waste; a desert; a waste.

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

  • noun obsolete The state of being laid waste; desolation.
  • noun The state of being uncultivated; wild, barren.
  • noun obsolete A wilderness.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From waste +‎ -ness.

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Examples

  • That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness

    Villaraigosa And Nunez Cut And Run - Video Report 2006

  • That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness

    Probably Just One Of Those Funny Coincidences 2006

  • Under her rays, the ground over which we passed assumed a more interesting appearance than during the broad daylight, which discovered the extent of its wasteness.

    Rob Roy 2005

  • That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

    Zephaniah 1. 1999

  • That day is a day of wrath, of wasteness and desolation, a great day and exceeding bitter.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 3: Brownson-Clairvaux 1840-1916 1913

  • [412] "And (or but) the earth BECAME wasteness and emptiness."

    Commentary on Revelation 1837-1913 1909

  • Under her rays, the ground over which we passed assumed a more interesting appearance than during the broad daylight, which discovered the extent of its wasteness.

    Rob Roy 1887

  • She felt a little eerie, as Robert would have called it, when she passed into the waste silent place; for besides the wasteness and the silence, motionless machines have a look of death about them, at least when they bear such signs of disuse as those that filled these rooms.

    Robert Falconer George MacDonald 1864

  • As he looked up from the water, however, to the huge crag-like tower over his head, the soft moonlight smoothing the rigour but bringing out all the wasteness of the grim blank, it seemed a hopeless attempt he had undertaken.

    St. George and St. Michael George MacDonald 1864

  • As he looked up from the water, however, to the huge crag-like tower over his head, the soft moonlight smoothing the rigour but bringing out all the wasteness of the grim blank, it seemed a hopeless attempt he had undertaken.

    St. George and St. Michael Volume II George MacDonald 1864

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