[f. prec. + -ITY.]
† 1. Living force, vitality. Obs.–1
1616. T. Adams, Soul’s Sickness, 28. Corrupt affections, which like vicious humours gnaw and suck the conscience dry of all viuiditie.
2. The quality or state of being vivid; vividness.
1772. W. Cullen, Lect. Pathol., in J. Thomson, Life (1832), I. 378. A degree of Vividity, of Alacrity, and Levity, or a disposition to change … can only be considered as states of morbid Irritability … in the Brain.
1780. Bentham, Princ. Legisl., vi. § 12 (1789), 45. Clearness of discernment,… vividity and rapidity of imagination.
1813. T. Busby, Lucretius, II. V. Comm. p. xl. A vast mass of illumined matter, in the general glow and vividity of which the opaque spots are almost lost.
1880. Daily News, 15 April, 6/1. Being of life size, the vividity of the flesh tints and the extraordinary modelling give to it a startling appearance of reality.
