-ness
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-ness
suff.
State; quality; condition; degree: brightness.
[Middle English -nes, from Old English.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
-ness
suffix forming nouns
indicating state, condition, or quality, or an instance of one of these: greatness; selfishness; meaninglessness; a kindness.
[Old English -nes, of Germanic origin; related to Gothic -nassus]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ness
(nɛs)n.
a headland; promontory; cape.
[before 900; Middle English -nes(se) (in place names), in part continuing Old English næs, in part < Old Norse nes]
-ness
a suffix attached to adjectives and participles, forming abstract nouns denoting quality and state (and often, by extension, something exemplifying a quality or state): darkness; goodness; obligingness; preparedness.
[Middle English, Old English -nes, -nis, c. Old High German -nessi, Gothic -nassus; suffix orig. *-assus; -n- by false division of words with adj. and past participle stems ending in -n-; compare Old English efnes (later efen-nys) evenness]
Ness
(nɛs)n.
Loch, a lake in SW Scotland, near Inverness. 23 mi. (37 km) long.
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