formlessness

From formless +‎ -ness.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔːmləsnəs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɹmləsnəs/

formlessness (countable and uncountable, plural formlessnesses)

1. The quality of being formless.
   • 1800, John Ruskin, Proserpina‎^[1], Lovell, Coryell and Company, page 292:

     The way by light and shade is, on the contrary, taken by men of the highest powers of though, and most earnest desire for truth ; they long for light, and for knowledge of all tthat light can show. But seeking for light, they perceive also darkness ; seeking for truth and substance, they find vanity. They look for form in the earth.—for dawn in the sky ; and seeking these, they find formlessness in the earth, and night in the sky.

   • 1855, Tayler Lewis, The Six Days of Creation‎^[2], John Chapman, page 61:

     There also in it, as used both by poets and philosophers, a similar idea of formlessness, but with more of a metaphysical reference to inward law or organization than to mere outward shape.

   • 2006, Nicholas Antongiavanni [pseudonym; Michael Anton], The Suit: A Machiavellian Approach to Men's Style, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 56:

     But in truth neither is either, and both must be avoided. In sum, with the Sack, its formlessness is dangerous; with the Designer, its extremity is.