Word.ws English Dictionary

watchingness

watchingness noun: the quality of watching; vigilant attention.

Noun

watchingness (uncountable)

  1. The quality of watching; vigilant attention.
    • Is it not then, moreover, preposterous to affirm that the state of watchingness, inquietude, struggle, knowing that the enemy is ever in ambush for the soul,—a state in which the Christian is ceaselessly kept—is one that begets pride, when its natural consequence cannot but be humility?a. 1667, Jeremy Taylor, The Anglican Church Vindicated in Answer to M. D'Aubigné's Discourse Entitled: “Geneva and Oxford.”, J. Ollivier, published 1844
    • Beulah's mother came over with her silent watchingness and leaned over her pale daughter.2016, Alexandra Glynn, Escaped from the Nations, page 15

Origin of watchingness

From watching + -ness.

Questions about watchingness

What does watchingness mean?
Watchingness means the quality of watching; vigilant attention.
What part of speech is watchingness?
Watchingness is a noun.

Words near watchingness in the dictionary

  1. watching the feathers fly
  2. watching the fur fly
  3. watching the world burn
  4. watching the world go by
  5. watchingly
  6. watchingness
  7. watchings
  8. watchkeeper
  9. watchkeepers
  10. watchkeeping
  11. watchless

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: watchingness (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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