blankness means the characteristic of being blank. It carries an Arena rating of 1373, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, blankness ranks #5,090 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #6,826 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #7,574 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #9,196 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words.
Why “blankness” is a great word
A quality or state of being unmarked, devoid of expression, thought, or content. Formed within English by derivation; from the adjective 'blank' (meaning empty, void, or lacking expression) + the noun-forming suffix '-ness' (denoting a state or quality). Unlike 'vacuity,' which suggests a profound, inherent emptiness, or 'nothingness,' which denotes a philosophical void of non-existence, blankness is a specific, often temporary, absence—a perceptible lack. It is the smooth, unmarred surface of a fresh sheet of paper before the pen's hesitation, the fixed, wide-open stare of a face receiving terrible news, and the hollow resonance of a room from which all furniture has been removed; it is the audible silence of a mind in momentary retreat from the world, the interval before meaning rushes back in or fails to arrive at all.
Etymology
From blank + -ness.
noun
- The characteristic of being blank.e.g.“"What is that?" demanded Carrados sharply. "Do you mean that?"
"Mean what?" she asked, with the blankness of one who has lost the thread of her own thoughts.” — 1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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