Meanings
plural rightnesses
- uncountableusuallyThe property of being on, or moving toward, the right.
I think we are inclined to think the leftness and rightness can be represented because there is a word in our language that means left, and another that means right, and we understand those words.
1996, Robert Cummins, Representations, Targets, and Attitudes, page 105Antonyms: leftness
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe property of being on, or moving toward, the right.
More synonyms by meaning
nounappropriate conduct; doing the right thing
nounconformity with some esthetic standard of correctness or propriety
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-West Germanic*rehtanassī“rightness, justice”
- Old Englishrihtnes
- Middle Englishrightnesse
- Englishrightness
From Middle English rightnesse, riȝtnesse, rihtnesse, from Old English rihtnes, rehtnis, from Proto-West Germanic *rehtanassī (“rightness, justice”), equivalent to right + -ness. Cognate with West Frisian rjochtens (“rightness”), Middle Dutch rechtenesse (“rightness, justification”), Old High German rehtnissa (“justice”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
rightness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rightness
“rightness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rightness. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rightness,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rightness.
Source: rightness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.