[f. as prec. + -NESS.] The quality of being expressive.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., V. iv. § 39. 224. Our English tongue was not improved to that expressivenesse, whereat at this day it is arrived.
1697. Dryden, Ess. Virg. Georg., ¶¶ b. The Murrain at the end [of the Third Georgic] has all the expressiveness that words can give.
1711. J. Greenwood, Eng. Gram., 282. This Praxis is … to show the peculiar force or expressiveness of a great many single Words.
1751. Butler, Serm., Wks. 1874, II. 324. We should study what St. James, with wonderful … expressiveness, calls meekness of wisdom.
1812. Examiner, 10 May, 301/2. A song … composed … in a style of great expressiveness and insinuation.
1883. A. Roberts, Old Test. Revis., vi. 134. Passages of rich expressiveness occur.
