Partness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The condition of being only a portion of a whole rather than the entire thing, or the degree to which something is partial
2. The state of constituting merely a fraction of something larger, or of favoring one side over another in a dispute
3. Being incomplete or limited to some components of a whole, a quality describing how much a thing is partial in nature

Etymology: "Partness" is formed from "part" with the suffix "-ness," which English has attached to adjectives since Old English to turn a quality into a noun. Here the base is "part" used as an adjective, meaning "partial" or "incomplete," as in "part payment" or "part-time." So the word means the condition of being only partly something, rather than whole. Its history is simple and transparent: the noun "part" came into English through Old French from Latin "pars," meaning a share or portion, and the English adjectival use grew from that sense of incompleteness. Because "partness" is built directly from familiar English parts, its meaning can be read off its construction without any special derivation story. Most dictionaries record "partness" only sparingly, and it is largely a formation readers can build on the spot, which is why it is usually found in philosophical or technical writing rather than everyday speech.

Synonyms: partialness, incompleteness

Antonyms: wholeness, totality, completeness