newness

From Middle English newnesse, from Old English nīewnes (“newness, novelty”), equivalent to new +‎ -ness.

• IPA^(key): /ˈn(j)uːnəs/

• Audio (US):

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  Rhymes: -uːnəs

newness (countable and uncountable, plural newnesses)

1. The property of being new; novelty; recency.

   The newness of the car meant it still had that funny smell.

   • 1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or The Ambiguities:

     Surprised and rejoiced thus far at the unanticipated newness, and the sweet lucidness and simplicity of Isabel’s narrating, […] Pierre now, in handing the instrument to Isabel, could not entirely restrain something like a look of half-regret, accompanied rather strangely with a half-smile of gentle humor.

   • 2025 November 25, Caroline Siede, “Zootopia 2 is a stagnant sequel with one stellar subplot”, in AV Club‎^[1]:

     Thankfully, that sense of newness does come in the form of Ke Huy Quan’s Gary De’Snake, the first reptilian addition to Zootopia‘s all-mammal cast.

• Swensen