hearsomeness

H4E1A1R1S1O1M3E1N1E1S1S1

noun

Obedience; submission to authority.

OriginMiddle English hersumnesse ← Old English hīersumnes →
Scrabble 17
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Meanings

nounhearsomeness (uncountable)
  1. rareuncountableObedience; submission to authority.

    Thus the hearsomeness of the burger felicitates the whole of the polis.

    1939, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake
    2 more examples

    […] his awakened "hearsomeness" causing him to misconstrue the sound, along Aristotelean lines, as the sound of thunder.

    1993, John Bishop, Joyce's Book of the Dark

    The cultural "bonum" that arrives by her Grace, issuing from the "malo" (apple/evil) of this "foenix culprit," consists in her streaming urine/words, which the Jarl's felicitous "hearsomeness" — his passion to keep her within his hearing and heir-ing […]

    1996, Christine Froula, Modernism's body

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
obedience

Origin

  1. Old Englishhīersumnes“obedience”
  2. Middle Englishhersumnesse
  3. Englishhearsomeness

From Middle English hersumnesse, from Old English hīersumnes (“obedience”), equivalent to hearsome + -ness. Cognate with West Frisian hearsumens (“obedience”).

More words from Middle English, Old English

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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