In the 18th century, the Swedish government made coffee and its paraphernalia (including cups and dishes) illegal for its supposed ties to rebellious sentiment.
CLOSENESS
familiarity, intimacy, closeness
(noun) close or warm friendship; “the absence of fences created a mysterious intimacy in which no one knew privacy”
closeness, secretiveness
(noun) characterized by a lack of openness (especially about one’s actions or purposes)
meanness, minginess, niggardliness, niggardness, parsimony, parsimoniousness, tightness, tightfistedness, closeness
(noun) extreme stinginess
nearness, closeness
(noun) the spatial property resulting from a relatively small distance; “the sudden closeness of the dock sent him into action”
stuffiness, closeness
(noun) the quality of being close and poorly ventilated
closeness, intimacy
(noun) a feeling of being intimate and belonging together; “their closeness grew as the night wore on”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
closeness (usually uncountable, plural closenesses)
The state of being close (all senses)
The state of being friends
The state of being mean or stingy
The state of being secretive
(mathematics) The shortest path between two vertices in a graph
(archaic) Solitude, seclusion
Synonyms
• (physical): proximity, nearness
• (friends): intimacy
• (stingy)
• (secretive)
Source: Wiktionary
Close"ness, n.
Definition: The state of being close. Half stifled by the closeness of the room. Swift. We rise not against the piercing judgment of Augustus, nor the extreme caution or closeness of Tiberius. Bacon. An affectation of closeness and covetousness. Addison.
Syn.
– Narrowness; oppressiveness; strictness; secrecy; compactness; conciseness; nearness; intimacy; tightness; stinginess; literalness.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
18 April 2025
GROIN
(noun) the crease at the junction of the inner part of the thigh with the trunk together with the adjacent region and often including the external genitals
Coffee Trivia
