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Solemnity vs Lightness - What's the difference?

solemnity | lightness |

As nouns the difference between solemnity and lightness

is that solemnity is the quality of being deeply serious and sober or solemn while lightness is the condition of being illuminated.

solemnity

English

Noun

(solemnities)
  • The quality of being deeply serious and sober or solemn.
    • the solemnity of a funeral
  • * Addison
    • The stateliness and gravity of the Spaniards shows itself in the solemnity of their language.
  • * J. Edwards
    • These promises were often made with great solemnity and confirmed with an oath.
  • An instance or example of solemn behavior; a rite or ceremony performed with reverence.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • Great was the cause; our old solemnities / From no blind zeal or fond tradition rise, / But saved from death, our Argives yearly pay / These grateful honours to the god of day.
  • * Atterbury
    • The forms and solemnities of the last judgment.
  • (legal) A solemn or formal observance; proceeding according to due form; the formality which is necessary to render a thing done valid.

    • Anagrams

    *

    References

    lightness

    English

    Etymology 1

    from light, the noun

    Noun

  • (uncountable) the condition of being illuminated
  • (uncountable) the relative whiteness or transparency of a colour
  • (countable) The product of being illuminated.

    • Etymology 2

    From (light), the adjective.

    Noun

    (-)
  • The state of having little weight, or little force.
  • Agility of movement.
  • Freedom from worry.
  • * {{quote-book, 1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, chapter=The Tutor's Daughter, page=266, title= Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion
    • , passage=In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.}}
  • Levity, frivolity; inconsistency.
  • *, New York 2001, p.75:
    • Senecaaccounts it a filthy lightness in men, every day to lay new foundations of their life, but who doth otherwise?

    Anagrams

    * English words suffixed with -ness