Mildness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of being gentle, soft, or not severe in nature, intensity, or effect
2. The state of exhibiting gentleness, a lack of severity, or a moderate intensity in characteristics or effects
3. A condition characterized by being soft, not harsh, or having a temperate force and manner

Etymology: Mildness is a plain formation: the adjective "mild" with the suffix "-ness", which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality. The root "mild" carries an older sense that the modern word has largely lost. In Old English, "milde" could describe a person who was gentle, merciful or compassionate, not only one whose weather or flavour was soft, so the noun could name tenderness of heart as well as mildness of climate or taste. The noun appears in Old English as "mildnes" and passed into Middle English as "mildenesse". Its German relative "miltnissa" in Old High German meant compassion, mercy, sympathy and pity, which shows that the idea of gentleness toward others was part of the word's shared inheritance across the Germanic languages.

Synonyms: gentleness, softness, calmness, moderation, temperateness

Antonyms: harshness, severity, extremity, intensity, acrimony