coyness

C3O1Y4N1E1S1S1
/kɔɪnɛs//kɔɪnəs/

noun

The property of being coy.

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Meanings

nouncoyness (usually uncountable, plural coynesses)

plural coynesses

  1. uncountableusuallyThe property of being coy.

    Her coyneſs was conquered by aſſiduity, and at laſt ſhe conſented to reſign the treaſure of her charms to my paſſion.

    1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page 15
    1 more example

    Former Harvard professor and communist Noel Ignatiev, who co-founded the New Abolitionist Society and founded a journal called Race Traitor, named after a book he coauthored in the mid-1990s, famously advocated for the complete abolition of the white race […] Note a certain coyness about whether this destruction refers to only a white race category or to all white-skinned people.

    2024 April 11, Wade Miller, “Policy Brief: The Great Replacement in Theory and Practice”, in Center for Renewing America, archived from the original on 04 Aug 2024

Synonyms & antonyms

nounthe affectation of being demure in a provocative way

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Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Translations

German Scheuheit
  • Scheuheitstate of being coy
Cite this entry
APA

coyness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coyness

MLA

“coyness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coyness. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “coyness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coyness.

Source: coyness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.