uniformity

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a condition in which everything is regular and unvarying
  2. noun the quality of lacking diversity or variation (even to the point of boredom)

Etymology

From Late Middle English uniformite, uniformitie (“conformity or equality among several parts; similar degree”), borrowed from Old French uniformité (“uniformity”) (modern French uniformité), or from its etymon Late Latin ūniformitās, from Latin ūnifōrmis (“having only one form or shape, uniform”) + -itās (a variant of -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being)). Ūnifōrmis is derived from ūni- (prefix meaning ‘one’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos (“one”)) + -fōrmis (suffix meaning having the form of) (from fōrma (“appearance, form, shape”); further etymology unknown). By surface analysis, uniform + -ity.

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