thingness

[ thing-nis ]

noun

1. objective reality.

Word History and Origins

Origin of thingness¹

First recorded in 1895–1900; thing ¹ + -ness

Example Sentences

It seems to embody the pitfalls and contradictions that come with critiquing the institution from within, and also the ways that an object can cut through critique and simply broadcast its thingness.

From The New Yorker

But in this earlier stage, a quality of thingness still inhabits the sound of clarinets and oboes.

From New York Times

To walk in a desert – assuming you have water and are not lost – is to be a kind of beachcomber: the wonder of each object’s “thingness”, its particularity and significance, are amplified by the environment’s very sparsity.

From The Guardian

As she inched forward, not knowing how far she had come or how far she had to go, with nothing but the noise of her own body and the darkness, it was the very thingness of the rectangular thing, pushed before her as she slid through the tunnel, that assured her she was still alive, that she had not perished in the aboveground world with her father.

From Literature

They have time to reveal their tragic thingness.

From New York Times