Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being white; white color, or freedom from any darkness or obscurity on the surface.
  • noun Lack of color in the face; paleness, as from sickness, terror, or grief; pallor.
  • noun Purity; cleanness; freedom from stain or blemish.

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

  • noun The quality or state of being white; white color, or freedom from darkness or obscurity on the surface.
  • noun Want of a sanguineous tinge; paleness; as from terror, grief, etc.
  • noun Freedom from stain or blemish; purity; cleanness.
  • noun obsolete Nakedness.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A flock of swans.

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

  • noun The state of being white.

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

  • noun the quality or state of the achromatic color of greatest lightness (bearing the least resemblance to black)
  • noun the state of being unsullied by sin or moral wrong; lacking a knowledge of evil
  • noun lightness or fairness of complexion

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From white +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • But the philosopher who asks whether the Taj has “whiteness” as a constituent and the philosopher who supposes that the Taj does have this property-constituent and asks, “What is the nature of this relation ˜constituent of™ that ˜whiteness™ bears to the Taj?” are asking questions about its ontological structure.)

    Metaphysics van Inwagen, Peter 2007

  • The term whiteness studies is misleading because what we're actually trying to do is eliminate racial categories in America, but we have to study the history of racial categories to understand racism.

    World Without 'White' 2007

  • On the other hand, though you suppress the term whiteness, you do not suppress some white thing, [25] though, of course, if the particular whiteness inhere as an accident in the thing, the thing disappears as soon as you suppress the accidental quality whiteness.

    The Theological Tractates and The Consolation of Philosophy Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius 1908

  • For, if sugar produce in us the ideas which we call whiteness and sweetness, we are sure there is a power in sugar to produce those ideas in our minds, or else they could not have been produced by it.

    An Essay Concerning Human Understanding 2007

  • As Latoya Peterson during Jezebel writes, In Precious 'mind, whiteness is homogeneous to being loved, safe, as well as wanted.

    Discuss: What Will Everyone Else Think About 'Precious'? - Cinematical admin 2009

  • But now we parched it over our fire so that the grains puffed and exploded in whiteness and all the tribe came running to taste.

    Chapter 21 2010

  • What will it mean to be white when whiteness is no longer the norm?

    The End of White America? 2009

  • But whiteness is the default in our thinking for Earth-specific cultural/political reasons.

    Describing Characters of Color, pt. 2 « 2009

  • To take the most obvious example, whiteness is no longer a precondition for entry into the highest levels of public office.

    The End of White America? 2009

  • As Latoya Peterson during Jezebel writes, In Precious 'mind, whiteness is homogeneous to being loved, safe, as well as wanted.

    Archive 2009-11-01 admin 2009

Comments

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  • Whiteness I remember

    About Sam: whiteness and the great run

    He gave me.

    from "Whiteness I Remember," Sylvia Plath

    March 26, 2008

  • prism, transparency

    July 24, 2009