sameness

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English

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Etymology

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From same +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sameness (plural samenesses)

  1. The quality of being the same; identity.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sameness
    • 1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XXXIV, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, page 391:
      All of them agreed that the working-classes must be kept in their place; and all of them perceived that American Democracy did not imply any equality of wealth, but did demand a wholesome sameness of thought, dress, painting, morals, and vocabulary.
    • 1997, Thomas Mann, chapter XX, in John E. Woods, transl., Doctor Faustus, New York: Vintage, published 1999, page 182:
      However strange it may sound, it always seemed to me [] that Adrian's laughter-filled friendship with Schildknapp had something to do with the sameness of their eye color
  2. The state of being equivalent; equality.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:equality
  3. A tiring lack of variety; monotony.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:tedium
    • 1860, George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss[1], Book IV, Chapter II:
      [] in the time when day follows day in dull, unexpectant sameness, and trial is a dreary routine,—it is then that despair threatens []
    • 1892, Walt Whitman, “A Song of Joys”, in Leaves of Grass [], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, [], →OCLC, page 148:
      O to sail to sea in a ship! / To leave this steady unendurable land, / To leave the tiresome sameness of the streets, the sidewalks and the houses, / To leave you O you solid motionless land, and entering a ship, / To sail and sail and sail!

Translations

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