otherness

[ uhth-er-nis ]

noun

1. the state or fact of being different or distinct.
2. the quality or state of being perceived or treated as different, foreign, strange, etc.:

   Certain ethnic groups embrace their otherness.

ˈotherness

/ ˈʌðənɪs /

noun

1. the quality of being different or distinct in appearance, character, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of otherness¹

First recorded in 1580–90; other + -ness

Example Sentences

These experiences no doubt informed her work, especially her novels, which both centered on racial passing, as well as on themes of isolation and otherness.

From Time

I also love that this book is about a woman of color exploring her connection to nature, including the role of her Hindu upbringing in that relationship and her own feeling of otherness.

From Outside Online

Only Too—ticky helps him learn to respect them in their otherness.

From The Daily Beast

It also nudges us toward a different view of the brain—in which a bit more otherness is present, intertwined with self.

From The Daily Beast

When I entered middle school, I was crushingly self-conscious of my otherness.

From The Daily Beast

I “embrace” my “otherness,” to spew that overused phrase of early '90s identity reclamation.

From The Daily Beast

Church spokesman Michael Purdy describes the ads as an attempt to downplay Mormon “otherness.”

From The Daily Beast

It is the "otherness," not the sameness, which makes Him desirable and potent in the daily round of life.

From Project Gutenberg

But that is because He offers the most intelligible approach to that very "otherness" in the person of the godhead.

From Project Gutenberg

Matter is not identical with otherness itself, but with that part of otherness which is opposed to real beings, and to reasons.

From Project Gutenberg

If it be otherness-in-itself, it is so not because it is something qualified, because quality is not something qualified.

From Project Gutenberg

If this thing be only other, it is not such by itself, it is so only by otherness, as a thing that is identical by identity.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• characteristic
• contrast
• difference
• differentiation
• discrepancy
• discrimination
• divergence
• division
• judgment
• nicety
• perception
• quality
• sensitivity
• separation