Meanings
plural lukewarmnesses
- countableuncountableThe property of being lukewarm; ambivalence, weakness.
Sazonov was furious at the lukewarmness of the British and French reactions to Russia's protests.
2012, Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin, published 2013, page 3432 more examples
1665, Robert Boyle, New Experiments and Observations Touching Cold, Discourse II, in The Works of the Honourable Robert Boyle, London: A. Millar, 1744, Volume II, p. 246, And indeed, there is scarce any quality, for whose differences we have fewer distinct names, having scarce any for the many degrees of coldness, that may be conceived to be intermediate, betwixt lukewarmness and the freezing degree of cold […]
Mr. Hale was disappointed in his pupil’s lukewarmness about Greek literature, which had but a short time ago so great an interest for him.
1855, Elizabeth Gaskell, chapter 40, in North and SouthSynonyms: lukewarmth
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe property of being lukewarm; ambivalence, weakness.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishleuk
- Proto-Germanic*warmaz
- Proto-West Germanic*warm
- Old Englishwearm
- Middle Englishwarm
- Middle Englishleukwarm
- Englishlukewarm
- Englishlukewarmness
Cite this entry
lukewarmness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lukewarmness
“lukewarmness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lukewarmness. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lukewarmness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lukewarmness.
Source: lukewarmness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.