unearthliness · noun — the characteristic of being unearthly; ethereal; otherworldly. It carries an Arena rating of 1652, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, unearthliness ranks #593 of 17,163 for Most Sublime Words, #2,555 of 17,171 for Scariest Words, #3,511 of 17,165 for Most Beautiful Words, #7,089 of 17,205 for The Improbable.
Why “unearthliness” is a great word
The quality or state of being strange, ethereal, or fundamentally alien to the world of ordinary experience. Formed within English from the adjective unearthly (from un- ("not") + earthly ("of the earth")) and the noun-forming suffix -ness, first attested in 1860. Unlike "supernatural" (which denotes active forces violating natural law) or "ethereality" (which suggests a delicate, airy insubstantiality), unearthliness is a passive, ambient quality of profound and mysterious wrongness. It is the cold scent of ozone in a room with no storm, the silent ballet of the northern lights against a star-flecked void, or the uncanny pallor of a stranger's face glimpsed in a passing train window—the vertigo of recognizing that the boundary between the real and the imagined is thinner, and more permeable, than we prefer to admit.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From unearthly + -ness.
noun
- The characteristic of being unearthly; ethereal; otherworldly.e.g.“These tunes have a taste of unearthliness—like a swaying mist which loses itself in infinity.” — 1929, Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, Jewish Music: Its Historical Development, page 411:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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