constancy
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English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin cōnstantia.
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkɑnstənsi/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkɒnstənsi/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Hyphenation: con‧stan‧cy
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, , 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. In Two Volumes.">…], 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
Related terms
Translations
quality of being constant
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unchanging quality or characteristic of a person or thing
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References
- Noah Webster (1828) “constancy”, in An American Dictionary of the English Language: In Two Volumes.">…], volume I (A–I), New York, N.Y.: S. Converse; printed by Hezekiah Howe , →OCLC.
- “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.