PALENESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does paleness mean? 

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

1. unnatural lack of color in the skin (as from bruising or sickness or emotional distress)

2. the property of having a naturally light complexion

3. being deficient in color

  Familiarity information: PALENESS used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PALENESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Unnatural lack of color in the skin (as from bruising or sickness or emotional distress)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

achromasia; lividity; lividness; luridness; paleness; pallidness; pallor; wanness

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

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

Derivation:

pale (abnormally deficient in color as suggesting physical or emotional distress)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The property of having a naturally light complexion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

blondness; fairness; paleness

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

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

Sense 3

Meaning:

Being deficient in color

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

paleness; pallidity

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

color property (an attribute of color)

Derivation:

pale (very light colored; highly diluted with white)

pale ((of light) lacking in intensity or brightness; dim or feeble)

 Context examples 

I do not think that I have ever seen such deadly paleness in a woman’s face.

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

I was glad to see her paleness and her illness, for my mind was full of the fresh horror of that ruddy vampire sleep.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Oh! I could not forget his look and his paleness when he whispered: "Jane, I have got a blow—I have got a blow, Jane."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I could not stand your countenance dressed up in woe and paleness.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

An unusual or extreme paleness, state of decreased skin or mucosal coloration.

(Pallor, NCI Thesaurus)

Uriah's cheeks lost colour, and an unwholesome paleness, still faintly tinged by his pervading red, overspread them.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

On the other side of the house an immense fire had burned itself into clear embers and shed a steady, red reverberation, contrasted strongly with the mellow paleness of the moon.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

As this was a favourite meal with Mrs. Jennings, it lasted a considerable time, and they were just setting themselves, after it, round the common working table, when a letter was delivered to Marianne, which she eagerly caught from the servant, and, turning of a death-like paleness, instantly ran out of the room.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

From these circumstances sprang the instant conclusion of his sister's now being by his side; and therefore, instead of turning of a deathlike paleness and falling in a fit on Mrs. Allen's bosom, Catherine sat erect, in the perfect use of her senses, and with cheeks only a little redder than usual.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

A fine blush having succeeded the previous paleness of her face, he was justified in his belief of her equal improvement in health and beauty.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)