Affectedness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of displaying behavior that seems unnatural or pretentious instead of genuine
2. The state of acting in a way that is overly formal or insincere, often to impress others
3. A manner marked by exaggerated or contrived actions that lack authenticity

Etymology: "Affectedness" is a plain compound: the adjective "affected" with the suffix "-ness," which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality or state. "Affected" comes from the Latin "afficere," meaning to act upon or influence, and in English it came to describe both someone who was influenced, as in "affected by grief," and someone who put on a show. The noun built from it follows the familiar pattern of English words like "kindness" or "bitterness," where "-ness" attaches to a descriptive adjective to name the condition it describes. The suffix itself has deep roots. The "-ness" ending descends from an Old English noun "-nes," which was used to form abstract nouns from adjectives for centuries before the word "affectedness" was formed. Because the suffix was productive, English speakers could attach it freely to almost any adjective, so the combination needed no special coinage: once "affected" had the sense of putting on airs, "affectedness" was a ready way to name that quality of behaviour.

Synonyms: artificiality, insincerity, pretense, mannerism

Antonyms: genuineness, authenticity