mutability

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English mutabilite, from Old French mutabilite, from Latin mutabilitas; equivalent to mutable +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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mutability (countable and uncountable, plural mutabilities)

  1. The quality or state of being mutable.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, [], →OCLC:
      He did indeed account somewhat unfairly for this sudden change; for besides some hard and unjust surmises concerning female fickleness and mutability, he began to suspect that he owed this want of civility to his want of horses []
    • 1819 November 10, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Mutability of Literature”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number IV, New York, N.Y.: [] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, [], →OCLC, page 23:
      There rise authors now and then, who seem proof against the mutability of language, because they have rooted themselves in the unchanging principles of human nature.

Translations

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