Noun: inwardness in-wurd-nus [N. Amer], in-wûd-nus [Brit]
- The quality or state of being inward or internal
"the inwardness of the body's organs"
- The choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience
"She grasped the inwardness of the poem's meaning";
- kernel, substance, core, center [US], centre [Brit, Cdn], essence, gist, heart, heart and soul, marrow, meat, nub, pith, sum, nitty-gritty [informal]
- Preoccupation especially with one's attitudes and ethical or ideological values
"the sensitiveness of James's characters, their seeming inwardness"; "inwardness is what an Englishman quite simply has, painlessly, as a birthright"
- Preoccupation with what concerns human inner nature (especially ethical or ideological values)
"Socrates' inwardness, integrity, and inquisitiveness";
- internality
See also: inward
Type of: cognitive content, cognitive state, content, introversion, mental object, position, spatial relation, state of mind
Antonym: externality, outwardness