Coltishness
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The quality of resembling a colt, especially:; The quality of being lively, playful and undisciplined. uncountable
"The grand thing is to get rid of dogged sulks and coltishness—of that wayward, swerving, hesitating gait, which says, “Here’s my foot, and there’s my foot,” or “There is a lion in the street, I cannot go forth!”"
- 2 The quality of resembling a colt, especially:; The quality of being tall, thin and awkward (usually of a young person). uncountable
"Though only a year younger than Reuben, in the midst of the awkward age, his growing limbs quite lacked the coltishness of his brother’s."
Example
More examples"The grand thing is to get rid of dogged sulks and coltishness—of that wayward, swerving, hesitating gait, which says, “Here’s my foot, and there’s my foot,” or “There is a lion in the street, I cannot go forth!”"
Etymology
From coltish + -ness.
More for "coltishness"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.