Impartialities

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The qualities of being fair and unbiased in judgment
2. conditions that reflect the absence of favoritism and prejudice
3. characteristics denoting a commitment to equity and justice without partiality

Etymology: "Impartialities" is simply the plural of "impartiality", the quality of being fair and free from favoritism. The noun traces back to Middle French "impartialité", formed by adding the suffix "-ité" (the source of English "-ity") to "impartial". The adjective "impartial" is itself built from the prefix "im-", meaning "not", and "partial", which in its older sense meant "inclined to one side or party". That older sense is the surprising part: "partial" once described a bias toward a faction, so "impartial" literally meant "not taking sides." Plural forms like "impartialities" are rare, since the abstract noun is usually used in the singular, but they appear when writers want to refer to several distinct instances or conditions of fairness.