Meanings
- uncountableThe state or quality of being nether or beneath; lowness; inferiority.
Riley's sardony preserves the duplicity, the netherness, the not-me of the narcissistic identification.
2003, Romana Huk, Assembling alternatives - uncountableDeepness; depth; abyss.
The memory of the swirling netherness sent a chill down her spine. She shook her head. “But—” The waterfire had been both more and less than she had expected.
2007, Eilis Flynn, The Sleeper Awakes1 more example
It was as if the vines and roots of those withered giants would imminently wrap themselves around the old fraternity and drag it into the dark netherness that secret old, places have always held.
2007, Eric Arvin, Slight Details & Random Events
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-West Germanic*niþernassī
- Old Englishniþernes“deepness, the bottom, lowness, a low position”
- Middle Englishnethernesse
- Englishnetherness
From Middle English nethernesse, from Old English niþernes (“deepness, the bottom, lowness, a low position”), from Proto-West Germanic *niþernassī, equivalent to nether + -ness. Cognate with Old High German nidarnassi, nidarnessi (“damnation”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
netherness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/netherness
“netherness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/netherness. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “netherness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/netherness.
Source: netherness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.