Word.ws English Dictionary

peregrinity

peregrinity noun: the quality of being foreign or strange.

Noun

peregrinity (countable and uncountable, plural peregrinities)

  1. The quality of being foreign or strange.
    • It will be correct, that is, free from faults, if the tongue bee loose, articulate, sweet, and polite: that is, in which no tone of rusticity or peregrinity is discoverable.1774, J. Patsall Quintilian, Quintilian's Institutes of the Orator: In Twelve Books, page 315
    • somewhat of a peregrinity in their dialect1785, James Boswell, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D
  2. (historical) The status of being a non-citizen in Ancient Rome.
    • There were different grades of peregrinity, however, as socii in general; socii nominis Latini; dedititii; yet they could attain to individual privileges, as, for instance, those of connubium (Liv. xxxi . 31.).1836, Thomas Swinburne Carr, A Manual of Roman Antiquities, page 175
    • Eucrates mentioned in the next line, was an Athenian general, noted for corrupt practices, treachery, and peregrinity.1837, The Comedies of Aristophanes, page 68
  3. Travel; wandering.
    • A new removal, what we call 'his third peregrinity,' had to be decided on; and it was resolved that Rome should be the goal of it[.]1851, Thomas Carlyle, The Life of John Sterling, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC
    • Upon reviewing this unbalanced itinerary, I can only conclude that I have been suffering from a bad case of peregrinity (or as I should perhaps refer to it: peregrinosis) .1993, Robert K. Merton, On the Shoulders of Giants, page 232

Examples of peregrinity in a sentence

  • Peregrinity! peregrinity! come back, Imgar, and conduct us down in Hindoodum, where alligators thrive.1890, Frederick Alanson Randle, Imgar: A Story of India, page 93:
  • The new xenophobia is thus a collective psychological response to peregrinity.2010, Bryan S. Turner, Vulnerability and Human Rights, page 134:
  • […] similar in character is the law introduced by the consuls Crassus and Scaevola forbidding a non-citizen to pose as a citizen—such a person was said to be accused of peregrinity.1912, Balthazar Ayala, John Westlake, Balthazaris Ayalae, page 240:
  • Thus in this case [of peregrinity] one must attend only to whether the planet lies in the sign of a friend or an enemy, a topic that we treated in Book 15, chapter 14 of htis volume.2004, J-B Morin, Astrologia Gallica Book Eighteen, page 28:

Forms of peregrinity

pluralperegrinities

Origin of peregrinity

From peregrine + -ity, from Latin peregrīnitās. Compare French pérégrinité.

Questions about peregrinity

What does peregrinity mean?
Peregrinity means the quality of being foreign or strange.
How do you use peregrinity in a sentence?
Peregrinity! peregrinity! come back, Imgar, and conduct us down in Hindoodum, where alligators thrive.
What part of speech is peregrinity?
Peregrinity is a noun.
What is the plural of peregrinity?
The plural of peregrinity is peregrinities.

Words near peregrinity in the dictionary

  1. peregrine hawks
  2. peregrine shrimp
  3. peregrines
  4. peregrinism
  5. peregrinities
  6. peregrinity
  7. Peregrino
  8. Peregrinos
  9. peregrins
  10. pereia
  11. Pereiaslav

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: peregrinity (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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