correctness
(kəˈrɛktnɪs)
[f. as prec. + -ness.]
The quality or condition of being correct; conformity to an acknowledged rule or standard, to what is considered right, or to fact; freedom from error or fault; accuracy, exactness.
| 1683 Burnet tr. More's Utopia Pref. (1684) 11 The fidelity of the Translation, and the correctness of the English. 1695 Dryden Parall. Poetry & Paint. Wks. XVII. 331 There remains nothing but a dull correctness. 1719 J. Richardson Art Crit. 188 The Correctness of the Eye. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India III. 530 He denied the correctness of the assertion. a 1859 Macaulay Biog. (1867) 182 The correctness of his private life. |
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Add: 2. Conformation to a dominant political or ideological orthodoxy: a. spec. in Communist China, adherence to Maoist doctrine (now chiefly hist.). b. In recent (chiefly N. Amer.) use, ellipt. for political correctness s.v. *political a. 6; hence with other defining terms, as eco-correctness, environmental correctness, etc.
| 1955 F. T. C. Yu Strategy & Tactics of Chinese Communist Propaganda vi. 59 When professors and scholars praise the ‘correctness’..of Marxism-Leninism, the communists hope that the common people will be more inclined to accept the new ideology. 1957 New Republic 13 May 24/1 The group is also fortified by..an absolute doctrinal authority for the ‘correctness’ of all of its solutions. 1960 T. Chen Thought Reform of Chinese Intellectuals ii. 9 There is another and more important reason for Communist insistence on ideological correctness. 1977 P. Fuller Jrnl. 29 Mar. in Marches Past (1986) 117 The jostling for rarefied, nuanced, over-tuned theoretical [Marxist] ‘positions’ heats up. As one might expect of 7 Carlisle Street [sc. office of the New Left Review]..everyone vies with each other for the most perverse and punishing ‘correctness’. 1992 N.Y. Times 12 Feb. c1/1 The brilliant new vehicle for environmental correctness, health consciousness and graphic self-expression: toothpaste. 1993 Fort Collins (Colorado) Triangle Rev. 21 Oct. 4/3 The elementary school fanfare is the last hurrah before social correctness cuts them off at the right brain. 1993 USA Weekend 24 Oct. 2/2 He has a broad agenda for eco-correctness. |