Enclosedness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The condition of being completely surrounded or contained within boundaries or limits
2. The quality of being enclosed, implying confinement within a definite space or area
3. A situation in which something is fully enclosed or shut in, surrounded on all sides

Etymology: "Enclosedness" is a straightforward formation: the past participle "enclosed" plus the suffix "-ness", which turns an adjective into a noun for a state or quality. "Enclosed" itself comes from the verb "enclose", which passed into English through Old French "enclore" from Latin "includere", meaning "to shut in". The Latin root is the same one behind "include", so the two words share a literal sense of being closed up inside something. The suffix "-ness" has been productive since Old English, when it attached freely to adjectives such as "good" and "hard" to form nouns like "goodness" and "hardness". Coinages like "enclosedness" follow that pattern and so can be formed on demand, which is why the noun describes the condition of being shut in rather than an object or place.

Synonyms: seclusion, isolation, closeness, privacy, inclosure

Antonyms: openness, exposure, accessibility, freedom, expansiveness