spinosity
(spaɪˈnɒsɪtɪ)
[ad. late L. spīnōsitās (cf. It. spinosità): see spinose a. and -ity.]
1. The quality of being spinose or thorny. Chiefly fig.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. 47 The part of Humane Philosophie..seemeth but a Net of subtiltie and spinositie. 1660 H. More Myst. Godl. vi. xviii. 275 The acuteness and spinosity of harsh and dry Opinions. |
2. A rude or disagreeable remark; an argument or theory of a difficult and unprofitable character.
| 1653 H. More Conject. Cabbal. Wks. (1713) 105 Many spinosities and cutting passages that often happen unawares in..conversation. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 283 He..was not unseen in their subtilties and spinosities. 1701 Norris Ideal World i. vi. 330 Without running through all the scholastic spinosities upon this occasion. 1836 Hor. Smith Tin Trump. (1876) 311 Amid the dry spinosities and tortuous labyrinths of theology. |