rightness
(ˈraɪtnɪs)
Forms: 1 rehtnisse, 1–2 -nise (2 -nis), 1–3 rihtnesse (3 rist-), 4 ryȝ-, riȝtnesse, -nisse, 6–7 rightnes, -nesse (6 righte-), 7– rightness.
[OE. rehtnisse, rihtnesse, etc., = MDu. rechtenesse, OHG. rehtnissa: see right a. and -ness.]
1. a. Uprightness, integrity, moral rectitude; the quality or condition of being right in respect of character or conduct.
| c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Thorpe) xcvii. 9 He..his syndriᵹ folc on rihtnesse ræde ᵹebringeð. c 1300 Beket 1629 Oure Louerd loveth soth and Rightnesse. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 53 So alle creaturis shal dampne him þanne, and witnesse to Cristis dome þat it is fulli riȝtnesse. 1530 Palsgr. 263/1 Rightnesse, rectitude. 1646 H. Lawrence Comm. Angells 125 Sincerity is immixednesse, and rightnesse of ends. 1650 W. Brough Sacr. Princ. (1659) 414 A rightness in religion and conversation perfect a good man. a 1716 South Serm. (J.), It is not necessary for a man to be assured of the rightness of his conscience [etc.]. 1834 Chalmers Const. Man II. 89 A rightness which..hath had everlasting residence in the character of the Godhead. 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 415 Pride and independence of God are the centre of the want of rightness. 1891 H. Jones Browning 74 The meaning of the universe is moral, its last might is rightness. |
| personif. 1340 Ayenb. 265 Ryȝtnesse zayþ, ‘Lybbe we sobreliche, ry[ȝt]uollyche an bonayrelyche.’ |
b. Sincere attachment
to a party.
rare—1.
| 1654 Nicholas P. (Camden) II. 95 His rightnes to our cause I take up upon my implicite faith of Sir E. Hide. |
† 2. Straightness; the fact of being straight.
Obs.| c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 522 Perpendicula, walðræd, þæt is rihtnesse. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 219 Ȝerde rihtnesse he heuede on hire liflode, for he ne turnde naht on hire to doinde..nan þer þinge þe he leten solde. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry ii. iii. (1611) 43 Rightnesse is a propertie of a line whereby it is carried levelly or equally throwout the Escocheon without either rising or falling. 1626 Bacon Sylva §201 Which nevertheless is not caused by the Rightness of the Line, but by the shortness of the distance. |
† 3. Reckoning; account.
Obs. rare.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxv. 19 æfter moniᵹe tides cuom drihten ðeana ðara & sette rihtnise mið him. c 1275 Lay. 14 Hit com him on mode..þat he wolde of Engelond þe ristnesse telle. |
4. a. Correctness, accuracy; fitness, appositeness.
| 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. Pref., Accordyng to the rightenesse that they haue bothe of witt, judgement and mynde. 1657 Fuller Comm. Jonah (1868) 190 The rightness of the way..maketh our going pleasing to God. 1666 Bunyan Grace Abound. §188 The fitness of the word, the rightness of the timing of it,..was marvellous to me to find. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxxii. (1695) 214 It is in our Ideas, that both the Rightness of our Knowledge, and the Propriety or Intelligibleness of our Speaking consists. 1787 Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 240 Your own reason is the only oracle given you by heaven, and you are answerable, not for the rightness, but uprightness of the decision. 1865 Ruskin Sesame ii. §70 That poet who is distinguished..from all others—not by power, but by exquisite rightness. 1885 Law Times Rep. LIII. 199/1, I..followed it without expressing any opinion as to the rightness of the decision. |
b. An instance of this.
| 1872 Ruskin Fors Clav. xiv. 20 The rightnesses only perceived; the felicities only remembered. |
5. The condition or character of being on the right-hand side.
rare.
| 1884 [see bilaterality]. 1887 W. James in Mind Jan. 14 Rightness and leftness, upness and downness, are again pure sensations differing specifically from each other. |