[f. prec. + -NESS.] The quality of being formidable.
1659. Gentl. Calling, viii. § 17. 447. That by which we use to discriminate base Fear from just Caution, is the formidableness of the object feared: No man is reproached for not standing the inundation of the Sea; but to quake at stepping over a Gutter, would be a ridiculous timorousness.
1709. J. Johnson, Clergm. Vade-m., II. p. lxxviij. They that would alarm People with a talk of the Formidableness of Church-Power, cannot, sure, but laugh in their sleeves, to find themselves believ’d.
1832. Examiner, 260/1. Our author straightway forgets the formidableness of our antagonist.
1891. H. S. Constable, Horses, Sport & War, 218. The formidableness of Russia comes, also, from her increasing population.
