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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

watchfulness en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree English watchful 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 watchfulness From watchful + -ness.

Meanings

  1. (countable, uncountable) The state or quality of being watchful; alertness, vigilance or wakefulness.
    • Every dark form in the dimness had its ominous quality, its peculiar suggestion of alert watchfulness. 1896, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “chapter 9”, in The Island of Doctor Moreau (Heinemann’s Colonial Library of Popular Fiction; 52), London: William Heinemann, →OCLC; republished as The Island of Doctor Moreau: A Possibility, New York, N.Y.: Stone & Kimball, 1896, →OCLC, page 82:
    • Continuous watchfulness is maintained around the clock.
    • The first thing to be undertaken in this weighty work, is a watchfulness over the failings and an inlargement of the dominion, of the Senses. 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia, Preface:
    • The steady rhythm of the engines, the fact that he had been sleeping badly, the boredom of a flight that he had done so many times before and did not want to do again, the long humiliation and unhappiness that was always in the background of his mind, all fought against his watchfulness. 1944, Neville Shute, chapter 4, in Pastoral, London: Heinemann:
    • 1784, Samuel Johnson, letter addressed to Mr. Langton dated 25 August, 1784, cited in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, London: Charles Dilly, 1791, Volume 2, p. 545, Nights of watchfulness produce torpid days […]

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
watchfulnesses Number=Plur lexicographic

Relateds

watchful

Translations (10)

bn সতর্কীকরণ (alertness, vigilance or wakefulness) · hy զգոնություն (alertness, vigilance or wakefulness) · lv modrība (alertness, vigilance or wakefulness) · hi सतर्कता (alertness, vigilance or wakefulness) · es vigilia (alertness, vigilance or wakefulness) · ru насторо́женность (alertness, vigilance or wakefulness) · uk настороженість (alertness, vigilance or wakefulness) · ckb ئاگاداری (alertness, vigilance or wakefulness) · lv modrums (alertness, vigilance or wakefulness) · hi सजगता (alertness, vigilance or wakefulness)