[f. as prec. + -NESS.] The state, quality or character of being wrong or wrongful; absence of right, equity or justice; wrongness.
a. 1425. Cursor M., 2546 (Trin.). Nouþer may iren nor stele were monnes wrongfulnes wele.
1583. Golding, Calvin on Deut., xxxvii. 222/2. To abstaine from anoyance, wrongfulnesse, and violence. Ibid. (1587), De Mornay, xvi. (1592), 264. Wit is maimed with ignorance, Will with wrongfulnesse.
1647. Sprigge, Anglia Rediviva, II. iv. 98. The right or wrongfulness of this that hath been said.
1856. R. A. Vaughan, Mystics (1860), I. I. ii. 13. The summary expulsion of all superstition, wrongfulness and ill-will.
1866. Sat. Rev., 28 April, 488/2. [To] allege the wrongfulness of his own acquisition.
1880. Matthew, Wyclif’s Wks., 393. On the Wrongfulness of the Clergy holding Secular Office.
