Dictionary

nastiness en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree English nasty 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 nastiness From nasty + -ness.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) Lack of cleanliness.
   • They neither comb their Head, nor wash their Face, / But think their virtuous Nastiness a grace. 1684, John Dryden, “The Eighteenth Epistle of the First Book of Horace”, in Miscellany Poems, 4th edition, volume 2, London: Jacob Tonson, published 1716, page 242:
   • Erasmus ascribes the frequent plagues in England to the nastiness and dirt and slovenly habits among the people. “The floors,” says he, “are commonly of clay, strewed with rushes, under which lies unmolested an ancient collection of beer, grease, fragments, bones, spittle, excrements of dogs and cats, and every thing that is nasty.” 1759, David Hume, “[Elizabeth I.] Chapter 37.”, in The History of England, under the House of Tudor. […], volume II, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, pages 448-449:
2. (uncountable) Dirt, filth.
   • [T]he helliſh Noiſe, the Roaring, Svvearing, and Clamour, the Stench and Naſtineſs, and all the dreadful croud of Afflicting things that I ſavv there; joyn'd together to make the Place ſeem an Emblem of Hell itſelf, and a kind of an Entrance into it. 1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edling, […], published 1722, →OCLC, page 337:
3. (uncountable) Indecency; corruption; unkindness, meanness, spite, harshness, cruelty.
   • Despite efforts to curb hate speech, eradicate bullying and extend tolerance, a culture of nastiness has metastasized in which meanness is routinely rewarded, and common decency and civility are brushed aside. 2017 February 18, Teddy Wayne, “The Culture of Nastiness”, in New York Times:
   • Among current novelists, Martin Amis lacks intellectual force but is well supplied with nastiness, which occasionally resembles humor. 1995 September 4, John Skow, “Snobs and Wetbacks”, in Time:
4. (uncountable) Unpleasantness, disagreeableness (to the senses).
   • During the day, the surrounding blocks are no better, full of cheesy bars, tacky shops and brash, neon nastiness. 2011 June 5, Lucinda Baring, “Florida: driving along the Overseas Highway to Key West”, in The Daily Telegraph:
   • Some medical beast had revived Tar-water in those days as a fine medicine, and Mrs. Joe always kept a supply of it in the cupboard; having a belief in its virtues correspondent to its nastiness. 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter II, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 22:
5. (countable) A nasty action, object, quality, etc. (all senses of nasty).
   • If we, who are educated, habitually submit to have copper in our preserves, red-lead in our cayenne, alum in our bread, pigments in our tea, and ineffable nastinesses in our fish-sauce, what can we expect of the poor? 1854, John Simon, Preface to Reports Relating to the Sanitary Condition of the City of London, London: John W. Parker & Son, page xx:
   • He’s too thoughtful to pretend he’s speaking for humankind on what passes for a Dan Bern protest song—“Tape” folds in a conversational outreach to a girl (“Baby did you get the tape I sent?”) along with a rundown of various societal nastinesses, including the prescient, “We might get to see World War III by Thanksgiving Day.” 2001 November 4, Arion Berger, “‘New American Language’: Bern Again”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
   • […] imagine the delights of bathing when the Baths were open to public view, the said public delighting to throw dead cats, offal, and all manner of nastinesses among the bathers! 1899, Charles George Harper, chapter 39, in The Bath Road: History, Fashion & Frivolity on an Old Highway, London: Chapman & Hall, pages 237–238:

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