FAIRNESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fairness mean? 

• FAIRNESS (noun)
  The noun FAIRNESS has 4 senses:

1. conformity with rules or standards

2. ability to make judgments free from discrimination or dishonesty

3. the property of having a naturally light complexion

4. the quality of being good looking and attractive

  Familiarity information: FAIRNESS used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FAIRNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Conformity with rules or standards

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

equity; fairness

Context example:

the judge recognized the fairness of my claim

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

justice; justness (the quality of being just or fair)

Attribute:

fair; just (free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules)

unfair; unjust (not fair; marked by injustice or partiality or deception)

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

non-discrimination (fairness in treating people without prejudice)

sportsmanship (fairness in following the rules of the game)

Antonym:

unfairness (injustice by virtue of not conforming with rules or standards)

Derivation:

fair (free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules)

fair (not excessive or extreme)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Ability to make judgments free from discrimination or dishonesty

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

candor; candour; fair-mindedness; fairness

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

impartiality; nonpartisanship (an inclination to weigh both views or opinions equally)

Antonym:

unfairness (partiality that is not fair or equitable)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The property of having a naturally light complexion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

blondness; fairness; paleness

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

complexion; skin color; skin colour (the coloring of a person's face)

Derivation:

fair ((used of hair or skin) pale or light-colored)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The quality of being good looking and attractive

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

beauteousness; comeliness; fairness; loveliness

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

beauty (the qualities that give pleasure to the senses)

Derivation:

fair (very pleasing to the eye)

fair (attractively feminine)

 Context examples 

'Oh, rise!' she said, extending a hand of marble fairness.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The fairness of your friend was an open attraction; her firmness, you know, could only be understood by yourself.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

But he knew life, its foulness as well as its fairness, its greatness in spite of the slime that infested it, and by God he was going to have his say on it to the world.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Lead author Sally Wasef of Australia's Griffith University explained to the press, The ibis was considered to represent the god Thoth, the god of wisdom, the god of magic, the god of judgment, writing all sorts of things (...) If you had a boss that annoys you and you don't feel like you are getting a good judgment from him or you want fairness and justice, you go and ask Thoth to interfere and in return you promise to offer him an ibis, a mummified ibis, in his annual feast.

(Ancient Egyptians collected wild ibis birds for sacrifice, says study, Wikinews)

I begged him to do me the favour of presiding; and my request being seconded by the other boys who were in that room, he acceded to it, and sat upon my pillow, handing round the viands—with perfect fairness, I must say—and dispensing the currant wine in a little glass without a foot, which was his own property.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)