cussedness

plural cussednesses

1. dateduncountableusuallyThe state or quality of being cussed.

   Well, if ever a man was born bad in his temper, 'twas Captain Bligh. . . . They made an Admiral of him in the end, but they never cured his cussedness.

   c. 1905, Arthur Quiller-Couch, Frenchman's Creek

   2 more examples

   Full of vinegar and all-round cussedness, but without malice. Just as soon kill you as not, but in a playful sort of way, you understand, without meaning to at all.

   1910, Jack London, chapter 11, in Burning Daylight

   He made camp there that night, pitching his little tent in the trail for pure cussedness, and defying aloud a traveling world to make him move until he got good and ready.

   1922, B. M. Bower, chapter 2, in The Trail of the White Mule

   Synonyms: cantankerousness, nastiness, obstinacy, orneriness, perversity