formlessness

plural formlessnesses

1. countableuncountableThe quality of being formless.

   But in truth neither is either, and both must be avoided. In sum, with the Sack, its formlessness is dangerous; with the Designer, its extremity is.

   2006, Nicholas Antongiavanni [pseudonym; Michael Anton], The Suit: A Machiavellian Approach to Men's Style, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 56

   2 more examples

   The way by light and shade is, on the contrary, taken by men of the highest powers of though, and most earnest desire for truth ; they long for light, and for knowledge of all tthat light can show. But seeking for light, they perceive also darkness ; seeking for truth and substance, they find vanity. They look for form in the earth.—for dawn in the sky ; and seeking these, they find formlessness in the earth, and night in the sky.

   1800, John Ruskin, Proserpina, Lovell, Coryell and Company, page 292

   There also in it, as used both by poets and philosophers, a similar idea of formlessness, but with more of a metaphysical reference to inward law or organization than to mere outward shape.

   1855, Tayler Lewis, The Six Days of Creation, John Chapman, page 61