landlessness

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

landless +‎ -ness

Noun[edit]

landlessness (uncountable)

  1. The state or condition of being landless.
    • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Chapter 9”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
      But as in landlessness alone resides the highest truth, shoreless, indefinite as God — so better is it to perish in that howling infinite, than be ingloriously dashed upon the lee, even if that were safety! For worm-like, then, oh! who would craven crawl to land!

Translations[edit]