outwardness

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun concern with outward things or material objects as opposed to the mind and spirit
noun the quality or state of being outside or directed toward or relating to the outside or exterior
noun a concern with or responsiveness to outward things (especially material objects as opposed to ideal concepts)

From outward + -ness.

In short, men that are carried away with all outwardnesses, shews, appearances, the stream, the people; for there is no man of worth but has a piece of singularity, and scorns something. — Microcosmography: or, a Piece of the World Discovered; in Essays and Characters, John Earle
If she lazily subside into equilibrium with the same facts of sense viewed in their simple mechanical outwardness, up starts the practical reason with its demands, and makes that couch a bed of thorns. — The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, William James
For no more than ten seconds had I gazed into her face, and the soul of her, the real woman behind the fair outwardness, had looked back into my eyes; but I had never been able to forget it. — Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1909 to 1922, L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

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