CONSTANCY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does constancy mean? 

• CONSTANCY (noun)
  The noun CONSTANCY has 3 senses:

1. the quality of being enduring and free from change or variation

2. (psychology) the tendency for perceived objects to give rise to very similar perceptual experiences in spite of wide variations in the conditions of observation

3. faithfulness and dependability in personal attachments (especially sexual fidelity)

  Familiarity information: CONSTANCY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONSTANCY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of being enduring and free from change or variation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

constancy; stability

Context example:

early mariners relied on the constancy of the trade winds

Hypernyms ("constancy" is a kind of...):

changelessness; unchangeability; unchangeableness; unchangingness (the quality of being unchangeable; having a marked tendency to remain unchanged)

Attribute:

constant (steadfast in purpose or devotion or affection)

inconstant (likely to change frequently often without apparent or cogent reason; variable)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "constancy"):

invariance (the nature of a quantity or property or function that remains unchanged when a given transformation is applied to it)

metastability (the quality of a physical system that persists in its existing equilibrium when undisturbed (or only slightly disturbed) but able to pass to a more stable equilibrium when sufficiently disturbed)

monotony (constancy of tone or pitch or inflection)

Antonym:

inconstancy (the quality of being changeable and variable)

Derivation:

constant (unvarying in nature)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(psychology) the tendency for perceived objects to give rise to very similar perceptual experiences in spite of wide variations in the conditions of observation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

constancy; perceptual constancy

Hypernyms ("constancy" is a kind of...):

perception (the process of perceiving)

Domain category:

psychological science; psychology (the science of mental life)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "constancy"):

brightness constancy (the tendency for a visual object to be perceived as having the same brightness under widely different conditions of illumination)

color constancy; colour constancy (the tendency for a color to look the same under widely different viewing conditions)

shape constancy (the tendency to perceive the shape of a rigid object as constant despite differences in the viewing angle (and consequent differences in the shape of the pattern projected on the retina of the eye))

size constancy (the tendency to perceive the veridical size of a familiar object despite differences in their distance (and consequent differences in the size of the pattern projected on the retina of the eye))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Faithfulness and dependability in personal attachments (especially sexual fidelity)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("constancy" is a kind of...):

faithfulness; fidelity (the quality of being faithful)

Derivation:

constant (steadfast in purpose or devotion or affection)

 Context examples 

He wished him to be a model of constancy; and fancied the best means of effecting it would be by not trying him too long.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

She had only navy lists and newspapers for her authority, but she could not doubt his being rich; and, in favour of his constancy, she had no reason to believe him married.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I shall then give over every expectation, every wish of his constancy.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Is there not love in my heart, and constancy in my resolves?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I felt the truth and constancy of my dear old nurse, with all my heart, and thanked her as well as I could.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

With almost every other man in the world, it would be an alarming prospect; but Edward's affection and constancy nothing can deprive me of I know.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

You might do it once the other way, but not as a constancy.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If such a knight as Sir Oliver Buttesthorn may turn against his own prince for the sake of a light word, then where are we to look for steadfast faith and constancy?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But constancy, chastity, good sense, and good nature, were not rated, because they would not bear the charge of collecting.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

What strength, or what constancy of affection he might be subject to, was another point; but at present she could not doubt his having a decidedly warm admiration, a conscious preference of herself; and this persuasion, joined to all the rest, made her think that she must be a little in love with him, in spite of every previous determination against it.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)