foulness

[ foul-nis ]

/ ˈfaʊl nɪs /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR foulness ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the state or quality of being foul: The foulness of the accusation incensed us all.

something that is foul; foul matter; filth.

wickedness.

Nearby words

fouled-up, foulie, fouling, foulmart, foulmouthed, foulness, fouls, foumart, found, found art, found object

Origin of foulness

before 1150; Middle English; Old English fūlnes. See foul, -ness

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for foulness

Your foulness no longer surprises you, but you have realized its power when you encounter clean soldiers and you both recoil.
Whatever You Do Someone Will Die. A Short Story About Impossible Choices in Iraq|Nathan Bradley Bethea|August 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If the after taste of the herring is insipid, more insipid still is the smell of this foulness.
The Legend of Ulenspiegel, Vol. II (of 2)|Charles de Coster
Even the foulness of Poggio's invectives and the fury of Filelfo's satires fail to account for the intervention of assassins.
Renaissance in Italy, Volume 2 (of 7)|John Addington Symonds
Without stopping to consider the foulness of the deed I rolled a huge piece to the mouth of the shaft and pushed it in.
The Broncho Rider Boys with Funston at Vera Cruz|Frank Fowler

Let thy blood cleanse and wash away the spots and foulness of my sins.
History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the death of Elizabeth. Vol. III|James Anthony Froude
He had on him still a sense of the foulness of Livermore's Rents and wanted something to counteract it.
Somehow Good|William de Morgan

British Dictionary definitions for foulness (1 of 2)

foulness

/ (ˈfaʊlnɪs) /

noun

the state or quality of being foul

obscenity; vulgarity

viciousness or inhumanity

foul matter; filth

British Dictionary definitions for foulness (2 of 2)

Foulness

/ (faʊlˈnɛs) /

noun

a flat marshy island in SE England, in Essex north of the Thames estuary

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012