Meanings
- uncountableThe characteristic of being blithe.
1 more example
A mood of blitheness rarely experienced even by young men was Dick’s on the following Monday morning. It was the week after the Easter holidays, and he was journeying along with Smart the mare and the light spring-cart, watching the damp slopes of the hill-sides as they streamed in the warmth of the sun, […]
1872, [Thomas Hardy], “VI: Yalbury Wood and the Keeper's House”, in Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School, volume I, London: Tinsley Brothers, →OCLC, part II, page 192Synonyms: blithesomeness, cheerfulness, blithesomeness, cheerfulness, cheeriness, contentness, contentedness, delight
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe characteristic of being blithe.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-West Germanic*blīþinassī
- Old Englishblīþnes
- Middle English*blithenesse
- Englishblitheness
From Middle English *blithenesse, from Old English blīþnes, from Proto-West Germanic *blīþinassī, equivalent to blithe + -ness. Cognate with West Frisian blidens (“blitheness, joy”), Old High German blīdnissa (“joy”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
blitheness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blitheness
“blitheness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blitheness. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “blitheness,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blitheness.
Source: blitheness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.