STUFFINESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does stuffiness mean? 

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

1. state of obstruction or stoppage or air in the nose or throat

2. the quality of being close and poorly ventilated

3. dull and pompous gravity

  Familiarity information: STUFFINESS used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STUFFINESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

State of obstruction or stoppage or air in the nose or throat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

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

congestion (excessive accumulation of blood or other fluid in a body part)

Derivation:

stuffy (affected with a sensation of stoppage or obstruction)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quality of being close and poorly ventilated

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

closeness; stuffiness

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

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Derivation:

stuffy (lacking fresh air)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Dull and pompous gravity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

stodginess; stuffiness

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

graveness; gravity; soberness; sobriety; somberness; sombreness (a manner that is serious and solemn)

Derivation:

stuffy (excessively conventional and unimaginative and hence dull)

 Context examples 

In the second case—that of Mortimer Tregennis himself—you cannot have forgotten the horrible stuffiness of the room when we arrived, though the servant had thrown open the window.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The atmosphere of the room was of a horrible and depressing stuffiness.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)