uniformities

Noun

uniformity (usually uncountable, plural uniformities)

1. (usually) The quality or state of having the same characteristics or form as other things, and lacking variety; (countable) an instance of this.
   • The buildings are all of brick, of a goodly heigth, and an excellent vniformity in moſt of the ſtreets, the toppes riſing vvith battlements.1611, Thomas Coryate [i.e., Thomas Coryat], “My Obseruations of Gorcom”, in Coryats Crudities Hastily Gobled Vp in Five Moneths Trauells […], London: […] W[illiam] S[tansby for the author], →OCLC...

   Synonyms:

   sameness

   Antonyms:

   disuniformity, nonuniformity

2. (usually) Often followed by of: the quality or state of a thing always having the same characteristics or form; consistency or regularity in appearance or operation.
   • The uniformity of the decor

   Antonyms:

   disuniformity, nonuniformity

3. (usually) Often followed by of: especially of one's life: lack of variety; tedious sameness; monotony.

   Antonyms:

   disuniformity, nonuniformity

4. (usually) The condition or state described by uniformitarianism (“the scientific principle that natural laws and processes operated in the past in the same way and at the same rates that they operate today, and sometimes in the same way everywhere in the universe as well”).
   • It must be granted at once, to the advocates of this geological uniformity, that we are not arbitrarily to assume the existence of catastrophes. The degree of uniformity and continuity with which terromotive forces have acted, must be collected, not from any gratuitous hypothesis, but from the...1837, William Whewell, “The Two Antagonist Doctrines of Geology”, in History of the Inductive Sciences, from the Earliest to the Present Times. […], volume III, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […]...

   Antonyms:

   disuniformity, nonuniformity

5. (especially, usually) Adherence to or conformity with one viewpoint, set of observances, etc.
   • Novv, vvhen the father of their Church, vvho gladly vvould heale the ſoare of the daugheer^([sic]) of his people ſoftly and ſleightly, and make the beſt of it, findeth ſo great fault vvith them for their oddes and iarring; vve hope the children haue no great cauſe to vaunt of their vniformitie.1611, [Miles Smith], “The Translators to the Reader”, in The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC

   Antonyms:

   disuniformity, nonuniformity