Dodginess

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A quality characterized by a lack of honesty or transparency, often involving deceitful behavior
2. The condition of being evasive or tricky, potentially leading to suspicion or distrust
3. A state marked by ambiguous intentions or actions, creating a sense of unpredictability or moral ambiguity

Etymology: "Dodginess" is a plain formation, not a story with a famous coiner: the English adjective "dodgy" with the suffix "-ness" added to turn a quality into a noun. The suffix itself has a long pedigree. "-ness" descends from Old English "-nes", which was used to form abstract nouns from adjectives, so that "good" gave "goodness" and "dark" gave "darkness." It has been productive in English for well over a thousand years. The base word is the more interesting part. "Dodgy" comes from the verb "dodge," meaning to move quickly out of the way, to evade, or to act with cunning. A thing that is "dodgy" is therefore one that seems to be dodging, hard to pin down or of uncertain reliability, and "dodginess" names that quality. The word's meaning has drifted from the physical sense of sidestepping a blow toward the moral sense of shifty or suspect conduct.

Synonyms: slyness, deceitfulness

Antonyms: honesty, straightforwardness