[f. as prec. + -NESS.] The state or quality of being fictitious.
1660. Ingelo, Bentivolio and Urania, II. 108. To free it [Truth] from all suspicion of Fictitiousness, we must confess that, notwithstanding our best Faculties, which are appointed for our guides, we are capable of being at a loss, when we have good reason to think our selves most sure of our way.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 125, 28 May, ¶ 3. Some think that its [comedy’s] essence consists in the unimportance, others in the fictitiousness of the transaction.
1853. N. Brit. Rev., Nov., 42. Notwithstanding the fictitiousness of the point of view, on which they eventually planted themselves, they were eminently practical men.
