Definition of "-ness" []

• State; quality; condition; degree: brightness. (suffix)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "I think there is a certain joy and a certain abandonment that this record has that really comes from the "live"-ness, the spontaneity, and the fear factor of recording live."
• "The "married"-ness refers to the incredible harmony between pork and bitter greens – a marriage made in the muck of smallholdings rather than the heavens, but special and sacred nonetheless."
• "The company stated that the rent it charged workers was calculated to amortize the cost of the cottages over five years at 6 percent a year, but that only underscores its excessive -ness."