RICHNESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does richness mean? 

• RICHNESS (noun)
  The noun RICHNESS has 7 senses:

1. the property of being extremely abundant

2. abundant wealth

3. the property of a sensation that is rich and pleasing

4. the quality of having high intrinsic value

5. the property of producing abundantly and sustaining vigorous and luxuriant growth

6. a strong deep vividness of hue

7. splendid or imposing in size or appearance

  Familiarity information: RICHNESS used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RICHNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The property of being extremely abundant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

cornucopia; profuseness; profusion; richness

Context example:

the idiomatic richness of English

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

abundance; copiousness; teemingness (the property of a more than adequate quantity or supply)

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

overgrowth (a profusion of growth on or over something else)

greenness; verdancy; verdure (the lush appearance of flourishing vegetation)

wilderness (a bewildering profusion)

Derivation:

rich (affording an abundant supply)

rich (having an abundant supply of desirable qualities or substances (especially natural resources))

rich (high in mineral content; having a high proportion of fuel to air)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Abundant wealth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

affluence; richness

Context example:

the richness all around unsettled him for he had expected to find poverty

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

wealth; wealthiness (the state of being rich and affluent; having a plentiful supply of material goods and money)

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

comfort; ease (a freedom from financial difficulty that promotes a comfortable state)

Derivation:

rich (possessing material wealth)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The property of a sensation that is rich and pleasing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

fullness; mellowness; richness

Context example:

he was well aware of the richness of his own appearance

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

property (a basic or essential attribute shared by all members of a class)

Derivation:

rich (pleasantly full and mellow)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The quality of having high intrinsic value

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

the cut of her clothes and the richness of the fabric were distinctive

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

value (the quality (positive or negative) that renders something desirable or valuable)

Derivation:

rich (marked by great fruitfulness)

rich (marked by richness and fullness of flavor)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The property of producing abundantly and sustaining vigorous and luxuriant growth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

fertility; prolificacy; rankness; richness

Context example:

weeds lovely in their rankness

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

fecundity; fruitfulness (the quality of something that causes or assists healthy growth)

Derivation:

rich (marked by great fruitfulness)

rich (very productive)

rich (having an abundant supply of desirable qualities or substances (especially natural resources))

Sense 6

Meaning:

A strong deep vividness of hue

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

the fire-light gave a richness of coloring to that side of the room

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

shade; tincture; tint; tone (a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color)

Derivation:

rich (strong; intense)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Splendid or imposing in size or appearance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

grandness; impressiveness; magnificence; richness

Context example:

impressed by the richness of the flora

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

excellence (the quality of excelling; possessing good qualities in high degree)

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

expansiveness; expansivity (a quality characterized by magnificence of scale or the tendency to expand)

loftiness; majesty; stateliness (impressiveness in scale or proportion)

Derivation:

rich (suggestive of or characterized by great expense)

rich (of great worth or quality)

 Context examples 

The chamber was certainly large, and the way in which my feet sank into the carpet as I stepped across it told me of its richness.

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

It was easy to see, as he approached, from the quality of his dress and the richness of his trappings, that he was a man of some wealth and position.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Here's richness!" cried Jo, flying in to tell the news to Meg.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

His dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked upon as akin to bad taste.

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

No, no, sir; besides the delicacy and richness of the fabric, I found nothing save Fairfax Rochester's pride; and that did not scare me, because I am used to the sight of the demon.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There was a certain richness in his complexion, which I had been long accustomed, under Peggotty's tuition, to connect with port wine; and I fancied it was in his voice too, and referred his growing corpulency to the same cause.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

For, though shy, he did not seem reserved; it had rather the appearance of feelings glad to burst their usual restraints; and having talked of poetry, the richness of the present age, and gone through a brief comparison of opinion as to the first-rate poets, trying to ascertain whether Marmion or The Lady of the Lake were to be preferred, and how ranked the Giaour and The Bride of Abydos; and moreover, how the Giaour was to be pronounced, he showed himself so intimately acquainted with all the tenderest songs of the one poet, and all the impassioned descriptions of hopeless agony of the other; he repeated, with such tremulous feeling, the various lines which imaged a broken heart, or a mind destroyed by wretchedness, and looked so entirely as if he meant to be understood, that she ventured to hope he did not always read only poetry, and to say, that she thought it was the misfortune of poetry to be seldom safely enjoyed by those who enjoyed it completely; and that the strong feelings which alone could estimate it truly were the very feelings which ought to taste it but sparingly.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

"What richness!" sighed Jo, sinking into the depth of a velour chair and gazing about her with an air of intense satisfaction.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It was little wonder that the richness and ornament, not only of church and of stall, but of every private house as well, should have impressed itself upon the young squires.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)