quiddity
noun
the quality that makes a thing what it is; the essential nature of a thing.
quiddities
-
pluralof quiddity.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
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.
“When you homogenize a city, you destroy its feeling of urbanity,” Ms. Schulman said, referring to the banks and drugstores and chains retailers steadily wallpapering over the city’s indispensable quiddities.
From New York Times ● Feb. 25, 2020
Whatever is going on, whatever misalliances and misdelving of quiddities we get into, the human heart is still beating in the same way in everybody’s chest.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 2, 2016
Once her eye adjusted to the determined quiddities of her adopted hometown, she said, “Even weird cinder-block strange things from the 1950s started to look fabulous.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 12, 2015
Patterson's towering editorial rages have largely disappeared, and his quiddities, which persisted out of habit, now seem to be receding.
From Time Magazine Archive
Only look at the theological quiddities of effete scholasticism.
From Erasmus and the Age of Reformation by Johan Huizinga
