foulness
noun
the state or quality of being foul.
foulness
American
[foul-nis]
/ ˈfaʊl nɪs /
noun
-
the state or quality of being foul.
The foulness of the accusation incensed us all.
-
something that is foul; foul matter; filth.
foulness
1
British
/ ˈfaʊlnɪs /
noun
-
the state or quality of being foul
-
obscenity; vulgarity
-
viciousness or inhumanity
-
foul matter; filth
Foulness
2
British
/ faʊlˈnɛs /
noun
Etymology
Origin of foulness
before 1150; Middle English; Old English fūlnes. See foul, -ness
Vocabulary lists containing foulness
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
When he finally arrived, he idled in the driveway for a moment, hoping his foulness might dissipate before he had to encounter his young family.
From Slate ● Nov. 26, 2022
The foulness is in the very air they breathe; they might choke if they thought about it.
From New York Times ● Nov. 15, 2022
You don’t need to see inside sealed legal filings to understand that the foulness wafted down from the top.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 8, 2020
If a player throws their arms skyward upon contact like they’ve just crawled through 500 yards of sewage-smelling foulness to escape the Shawshank penitentiary, then yes, they’re probably flopping.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 30, 2019
What should he do with the carton of foulness he now possessed?
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
The Broomway is a route across flat sands from the shore near Southend-on-Sea to Foulness Island and is home to a Ministry of Defence firing range.
From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2026
Foulness, for the most part, wins the day, and thus the beautiful paean, by Duncan and Banquo, to the home of the Macbeths—“a pleasant seat,” where “the air is delicate”—is expunged.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 7, 2015
In East Yorkshire there is a flood alert on the River Foulness and Market Weighton canal.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2012
It seems they expected from thence to dispel the Thickness and Foulness of the Air.
From A Discourse on the Plague by Richard Mead
A boat was seen passing towards Bradwell—indeed, it seems that you saw it, and that night a boat was seen sailing southwards down St. Peter's sands towards a ship that had anchored off Foulness Point.
From The Brethren by Henry Rider Haggard
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
