Roundness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state or condition of having a curved or spherical shape without sharp angles
2. The characteristic of an object or form that is smoothly curved or circular in outline
3. A measure of how much a shape or surface resembles a circle or sphere

Etymology: "Roundness" is about as transparent as English compounds get: it is "round" with the suffix "-ness" attached. The suffix comes from Old English "-nes", a noun-forming ending that turns an adjective into the abstract quality it names, so "good" gives "goodness" and "sad" gives "sadness". Middle English writers formed "roundnesse" in the same way, and the word has carried that plain sense ever since. The adjective "round" is the more interesting half. It came into English from Old French "rond", which descended from Latin "rotundus", meaning wheel-like or circular, itself built from "rota", "wheel". So the idea of roundness in English is tied to the wheel, the most familiar round object in the ancient world.

Synonyms: circularity, sphericity, bulbousness, curvature, rotundity

Antonyms: sharpness, flatness, angularity, edginess, linearity