Outness
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The quality of being out, or outside. uncountable, usually
"The forces which work in and upon organic life know nothing of outness and inness. They shine through the materials which they build up and mould, as light shines through the clearest glass."
- 2 The collective of things that are distinct from the observer. uncountable, usually
"From what we have shewn it is a manifest Consequence, that the Ideas of Space, Outness, and things placed at a distance are not strictly speaking, the Object of Sight."
- 3 The property of being distinct. uncountable, usually
"Distance means degree of outness of one thing from another; but it presupposes outness as a fact and a conception."
- 4 The extent to which someone, particularly a gay person, is open about their sexuality. uncountable, usually
"If I use my own name to publish pieces which use homosexual themes, this decision forces a certain amount of "outness" upon those who associate with me."
Example
More examples"The forces which work in and upon organic life know nothing of outness and inness. They shine through the materials which they build up and mould, as light shines through the clearest glass."
Etymology
* out + -ness. ** (philosophy): Possibly coined by George Berkeley for his 1709 Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision ** (sexuality): Popularised by Lynne Pearlman in her 1989 thesis Theorizing Lesbian Oppression and the Politics of Outness in the Case of Waterman v. National Life Assurance.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.