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constancy. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
constancy, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin cōnstantia.
Pronunciation
Noun
constancy (usually uncountable, plural constancies)
- (uncountable) The quality of being constant; steadiness or faithfulness in action, affections, purpose, etc.
c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 137, column 1:A little Water cleares vs of this deed.
How eaſie is it then? your Conſtancie
Hath left you vnattended.
1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, IV.iii:Punctuality is a species of Constancy, a very unfashionable quality in a Lady.
1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter III, in Mansfield Park: , volume III, London: for T Egerton, , →OCLC, page 68:And, I do not know that I should be fond of preaching often; now and then, perhaps, once or twice in the spring, after being anxiously expected for half a dozen Sundays together; but not for a constancy; it would not do for a constancy.
1871, Charles Darwin, “On the Races of Man”, in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. , volume I, London: John Murray, , →OCLC, Part I (On the Descent of Man), page 214:Constancy of character is what is chiefly valued and sought for by naturalists.
2014, James Lambert, “Diachronic stability in Indian English lexis”, in World Englishes, page 124:The overall retention rate of 68 per cent indicates a robust constancy of the linguistic features investigated.
- (countable) An unchanging quality or characteristic of a person or thing.
c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 232, column 2:[…] yonger ſpirits, […]
whoſe conſtancies
Expire before their faſhions: […]
Derived terms
Translations
quality of being constant
unchanging quality or characteristic of a person or thing
References
- constancy in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
- “constancy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “constancy”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.
- Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.