Meanings
plural lovelinesses
- uncountableThe property of being lovely, of attractiveness, beauty, appearing to be lovable.
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: / Its loveliness increases; it will never / Pass into nothingness; but still will keep / A bower quiet for us, and a sleep / Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 3, lines 1–51 more example
Then, seated in her barbaric chair above them all, with myself at her feet, was the veiled white woman, whose loveliness and awesome power seemed to visibly shine about her like a halo, or rather like the glow from some unseen light.
1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC - countableThe result of being lovely.
- collectivecountableuncountablebiologyA group of ladybirds.
A loveliness of ladybugs is enjoying lunch - little aphids that pepper a crop of soybeans.
2018, Natalie Rompella, The World Never Sleeps, Tilbury House, p182 more examples
'A loveliness of ladybirds,' whispers Roisin to her sleeping child, and looks at her husband proudly. He grins back. 'Aye, the plague of last summer. Couldn't pick up a glass of lemonade without finding a hundred ladybirds using it as a bubble-bath.'
2016, David Mark, Dead Pretty, Hachette UK, page 10Sparks of sunlight caught on a loveliness of ladybirds that had floated into the waiting room through an open door.
2019, Jayne Fresina, A Loveliness of Ladybirds, Twisted-E Publishing LLC, page 71
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe quality of being good looking and attractive
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishluflynes
- Englishloveliness
From Middle English luflynes; equivalent to lovely + -ness.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian красота, прелест
- красота (krasota)property of being lovely
- прелест (prelest)property of being lovely
Esperanto beleco
- belecoproperty of being lovely
French beauté, charme
- beautéproperty of being lovely
- charmeproperty of being lovely
Hebrew חן
- חןproperty of being lovely
Hungarian kedvesség
- kedvességproperty of being lovely
Italian amenità
- amenitàproperty of being lovely
Latvian mīlīgums, mīlība
- mīlīgumsproperty of being lovely
- mīlībaproperty of being lovely
Polish urok, powab
- urokproperty of being lovely
- powabproperty of being lovely
Tamil அழகு
- அழகு (aḻaku)property of being lovely
Cite this entry
loveliness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/loveliness
“loveliness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/loveliness. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “loveliness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/loveliness.
Source: loveliness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.