tameness


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tame

 (tām)
adj. tam·er, tam·est
1. Brought from wildness into a domesticated or tractable state.
2. Naturally unafraid; not timid: "The sea otter is gentle and relatively tame" (Peter Matthiessen).
3. Submissive; docile; fawning: tame obedience.
4. Insipid; flat: a tame birthday party.
5. Sluggish; languid; inactive: a tame river.
tr.v. tamed, tam·ing, tames
1. To make tame; domesticate: tame a wild horse.
2. To subdue or curb: tamed his explosive anger.
3. To change from an uncontrolled or disorderly to a controlled state: needed some gel to tame his hair.

[Middle English, from Old English tam; see demə- in Indo-European roots.]

tam′a·ble, tame′a·ble adj.
tame′ly adv.
tame′ness n.
tam′er n.
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.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.tameness - the quality of being vapid and unsophisticatedtameness - the quality of being vapid and unsophisticated
dullness - the quality of lacking interestingness; "the stories were of a dullness to bring a buffalo to its knees"
2.tameness - the attribute of having been domesticated
tractability, tractableness, flexibility - the trait of being easily persuaded
wildness - an intractably barbarous or uncultivated state of nature
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
تَدْجين، طاعَه
krotkostnuda
tamhed
deyfî; auîsveipni
krotkosť
evcillik

tameness

[ˈteɪmnɪs] N
1. [of lion, tiger] → mansedumbre f; [of hedgehog, fox] → docilidad f, mansedumbre f
2. [of person] → sosería f; [of book, film] (= lacking excitement) → sosería f; (= lacking sex, violence) → falta f de atrevimiento
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

tameness

n
(of animal)Zahmheit f
(fig, of person, life, adventure etc) → Lahmheit f (inf); (of film, criticism, joke etc also)Zahmheit f; (of shot)Lahmheit f, → Zahmheit f
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

tame

(teim) adjective
1. (of animals) used to living with people; not wild or dangerous. He kept a tame bear as a pet.
2. dull; not exciting. My job is very tame.
verb
to make tame. It is impossible to tame some animals.
ˈtamely adverb
ˈtameness noun
ˈtameable adjective
(negative untameable) able to be tamed.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
Its tameness, far from shocking me, as a similar occurrence did Selkirk, imparted to me the most exquisite thrill of delight I ever experienced, and with somewhat of the same pleasure did I afterwards behold the birds and lizards of the valley show their confidence in the kindliness of man.
It is a discourse against all those who confound virtue with tameness and smug ease, and who regard as virtuous only that which promotes security and tends to deepen sleep.
On the other hand, habit alone in some cases has sufficed; no animal is more difficult to tame than the young of the wild rabbit; scarcely any animal is tamer than the young of the tame rabbit; but I do not suppose that domestic rabbits have ever been selected for tameness; and I presume that we must attribute the whole of the inherited change from extreme wildness to extreme tameness, simply to habit and long-continued close confinement.
If this is a sample of the wilds of Honduras, give me the tameness of Shopton."
He showed no alarm at their approach, but suffered himself quietly to be taken, evincing a perfect state of tameness. The scouts of the party were instantly on the look-out for the owners of this animal; lest some dangerous band of savages might be lurking in the vicinity.
It was the first love letter he had ever written, and he was conscious of its tameness; he felt that he should say all sorts of vehement things, how he thought of her every minute of the day and how he longed to kiss her beautiful hands and how he trembled at the thought of her red lips, but some inexplicable modesty prevented him; and instead he told her of his new rooms and his office.
It was not for their tameness, but for their impassioned sincerity, that he chose incidents and situations from common life, "related in a selection of language really used by men." He constantly endeavours to bring his language nearer to the real language of men; but it is to the real language of men, not on the dead level of their ordinary intercourse, but in certain select moments of vivid sensation, when this language is winnowed and ennobled by sentiment.
I feel inclined to say, with Alexander Selkirk, 'Their tameness is shocking to me'!
Yates, indeed, exclaimed against his tameness and insipidity; and the day came at last, when Mr.
For a while we tramped on in silence, till Umbopa, who was marching in front, broke into a Zulu chant about how some brave men, tired of life and the tameness of things, started off into a vast wilderness to find new things or die, and how, lo and behold!
All sign of the Indians had passed away, but animal life was more frequent, and the tameness of the creatures showed that they knew nothing of the hunter.
This tameness may probably be accounted for, by the Jaguar having been banished for some years, and by the Gaucho not thinking it worth his while to hunt them.