Adjacent Words

outwardness definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: concern with outward things or material objects as opposed to the mind and spirit; "what is the origin of the outwardness of our sensations of sound, smell, or taste"; "an abstract conception with feelings of reality and spatial outwardness attached to it" [ant: inwardness]
2: the quality or state of being outside or directed toward or relating to the outside or exterior; "the outwardness of the world" [syn: outwardness, externality] [ant: inwardness]
3: a concern with or responsiveness to outward things (especially material objects as opposed to ideal concepts); "hearty showmanship and all-round outwardness" [ant: internality, inwardness]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1580 1. the quality or state of being external 2. concern with or responsiveness to outward things

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 external existence; objectivity. 2 an interest or belief in outward things, objective-mindedness.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Outward Out"ward, a. 1. Forming the superficial part; external; exterior; -- opposed to inward; as, an outward garment or layer. Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. --Cor. iv. 16. 2. Of or pertaining to the outer surface or to what is external; manifest; public. ``Sins outward.'' --Chaucer. An outward honor for an inward toil. --Shak. 3. Foreign; not civil or intestine; as, an outward war. [Obs.] --Hayward. 4. Tending to the exterior or outside. The fire will force its outward way. --Dryden. -- Out"ward*ly, adv. -- Out"ward*ness, n. Outward stroke. (Steam Engine) See under Stroke.