Meanings
- alternativeuncountableAlternative form of tristeness.
Notwithstanding the tristness of the town, there are many visitors during the Summer who come for quiet and economy.
1844, Charles Wilkes, “Jaunt into Pennsylvania”, in William James Morgan, David B. Tyler, Joye L. Leonhart, Mary F. Loughlin, editors, Autobiography of Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes, U. S. Navy 1798–1877, Washington, D.C.: Naval History Division, Department of the Navy/U.S. Government Printing Office, published 1978, page 5705 more examples
Beneath the snowy turban, which adorns her head, what pathos seems to dress her brows; what silent, yet what speaking, tristness, highly touched!
1797 October, “Art. 67. A History or Description, general and circumstantial, of Burghley House, the Seat of the Right Honorable the Earl of Exeter. […]”, in The Monthly Review; or Literary Journal, Enlarged: […], volume XXIV, London: […] R[alph] Griffiths; and sold by T[homas] Becket, […], page 235He who has lashed, with such biting keenness, the poets and the critics of his day; and laughed to scorn, alike the metaphysical poetics of an “In Memoriam,” the morbid tristness of “A Life-drama,” the transcendental theosophy of a “Festus,” and all the vagaries of a Carlyle, a Ruskin, or a Gilfillan: must be assumed to offer something which he, at least, believes to approach more nearly the true requisites of poetic perfection.
1856 November, D. W., “[Reviews.] Bothwell: A Poem in six parts. By W. Edmondstoune Aytoun, […]. Leaves of Grass. […]”, in The Canadian Journal of Industry, Science, and Art: […], new series, volume I, number VI, Toronto, Ont.: […] [F]or the Canadian Institute, by Lovell and Gibson, […], page 541Kate was delighted with this proposal, and the business of packing and preparing seemed to dispel much of the tristness which had possessed her of late, and Wycherly was happy again.
1864, Mark Lemon, “Quite a Business Chapter.—Cecil Starts on the Road to Ruin.”, in Loved at Last. A Story., volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], page 197“Her Majesty,” he says, “still dresses with exquisite simplicity, her toilet being toned and tinted in harmony with the tristness of the hour. Long live the brave and beautiful Empress Eugenie!”
1870 November 5, “The Last Straw”, in Every Saturday: An Illustrated Journal of Choice Reading, new series, volume I, number 45, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, and Company, page 707, column 1The forlorn condition of the girl; her gesture, which seemed full of sadness; the silent fall of leaves; the tristness of the autumn woods, overcame Miss Lascelles; and as she walked silently beside me, with her head bent, I saw that she was crying.
1887, Frank Barrett, chapter IV, in The Great Hesper, New York, N.Y.: John W. Lovell Company, […], page 24
Origin
Cite this entry
tristness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tristness
“tristness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tristness. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tristness,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tristness.
Source: tristness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.