Gaseousness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state or quality of being in the form of a gas or having the characteristics of one ; a vague, vapory or insubstantial quality ; a lack of solid substance or firmness
2. Having the properties of a gas, which is the condition of being airy and formless ; an airy, wispy or ethereal insubstantiality ; the absence of firmness or solid form
3. The characteristic of existing as a gas or resembling one ; a hazy, vaporous insubstantiality ; the quality of lacking density, solidity or structure

Etymology: Gaseousness is one of those words where the history is plain: it is simply "gaseous" with the suffix "-ness" added to turn the quality into a noun. "Gaseous" is itself a newer formation, built in the 17th century from "gas," a term the Flemish chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont coined as an invented word, apparently modelled on the Greek "chaos." The suffix "-ness" is an old native English ending, descended from Old English "-nes," and it has long been the ordinary way to name the state of being something, so "gaseousness" describes the condition of being gas-like.

Synonyms: gaseity

Antonyms: solidity, solidness