fondness

• fondnesse (obsolete)

From Middle English fondnes, fondnesse, fonnednesse, equivalent to fond +‎ -ness.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɑndnəs/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɒndnəs/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Hyphenation: fond‧ness

fondness (countable and uncountable, plural fondnesses)

1. The quality of being fond: liking something, foolishness; doting affection; propensity.
   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, “Part I, Chapter xvii”, in The Story of My Experiments with Truth‎^[1], translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai:

     I stopped taking the sweets and condiments I had got from home. The mind having taken a different turn, the fondness for condiments wore away, and I now relished the boiled spinach which in Richmond tasted insipid, cooked without condiments. Many such experiments taught me that the real seat of taste was not the tongue but the mind.

   • 1958 February, David Gunston, “Railways on the Screen”, in Railway Magazine, page 90:

     Britain's contribution to railway film history has been very great and can be almost entirely laid at the door of that very fine producer Sir Michael Balcon, who I suspect has a secret fondness for trains himself, so many railway pictures has he caused to be made.

   • 2024 November 9, Nick Paton Walsh, “Trump’s second term could bring chaos around the world. Will it work?”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     Trump’s grotesque and incomprehensible fondness for Putin makes the details of any deal highly dangerous for Europe and the NATO alliance, founded to confront Russia.