Dictionary

dissoluteness en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree English dissolute Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English dissoluteness From dissolute + -ness.

Meanings

1. (obsolete, uncountable, usually) Lack of restraint; excess.
2. (uncountable, usually) Looseness of morals; wantonness, licentiousness.
   • Though he knew it not, the subtle spirit of vagabondage had taken possession of his soul, and even of his hat, which seemed suddenly to have lost its original respectability, and acquired an air of dissoluteness. 1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 76:
   • Wee dare not call our members by their proper names, and feare not to employ them in all kind of dissolutenese. , II.17

Forms