inwardness

Plural: inwardnesses

Noun

• the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience
• preoccupation especially with one's attitudes and ethical or ideological values
  • "the sensitiveness of James's characters, their seeming inwardness"
  • "inwardness is what an Englishman quite simply has, painlessly, as a birthright"
• the quality or state of being inward or internal
  • "the inwardness of the body's organs"
• preoccupation with what concerns human inner nature (especially ethical or ideological values); - H.R.Finch
  • "Socrates' inwardness, integrity, and inquisitiveness"
• The characteristic of being inward or directed towards the inside.
• The internal or true state; the essential nature.
• Familiarity; intimacy.
• Earnestness; heartiness.

Examples

• the inwardness of conduct

Synonyms

center, centre, core, essence, gist, heart, heart and soul, internality, kernel, marrow, meat, nitty-gritty, nub, pith, substance, sum, bowels, brass tacks, crux, deets, details, drift, gravamen, guts, heartstring, heartstrings, inwardness, moral of the story, nuts and bolts, punctum saliens, quintessence, soul, spirit, stuff, tenor

Antonyms

outwardness