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Glite Dictionary
Britishness

Britishness

1 6.5
The qualities, traditions, and ways of life people in Britain share
  • noun
  • /ˈbrɪtɪʃnəs/
translation icon : britanidad
  • In this light, Morris's subsequent claims about the fungibility of national identity might be read as a reflection on the Britishness with which Morris has been forced to identify.

Like I have like this wall of Britishness up.

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Examples

  • Group identity, in the sense of Britishness, Irishness, or Northern Irishness, is fiercely linked to individual sense of communal place but does not clearly define political choices.

    Academic text (1996)

  • There's been one view of Britishness that's been allowed and my job is to evolve that.

  • And this brings us to Britishness versus ethnic identity or a national identity.

  • Again, one of those things I was raised to think British as Britishness was, was stiff upper lip.

    Triggernometry

  • Tony Blair's government requires that would-be citizens master "Britishness."

    Academic text (2005)

  • Their respective mandates for Irishness and Britishness as political and cultural identities have been exclusive and entirely unsupportive of political accommodation.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Major Stoppard said to Tom, when he was still a young child: "Don't you realize that I made you British?" So far from resenting this, Tom sees the gift of Britishness as part of what he calls his "charmed life."

    Blog text (30)

  • This essay will discuss the contributions of Robert Knox and Dinah Craik to mid-nineteenth-century debates over the meanings of race and Britishness.

    Academic text (2007)

  • A Matter of Life and Death is an utterly charming fantasy of mortality and the afterlife, as well as a cross-Atlantic romance that considers the essence of Britishness juxtaposed with and contrasted against the essence of Americanness.

    Blog text (11)

  • Many people have different views on what defines Britishness in modern society.

Surface Forms

Britishness singular
Britishnesses plural

Morphology

Britishness = British (transparent) = British + ness

The adjective 'British' plus the productive nominalizing suffix '-ness' yields a noun meaning 'the quality of being British', which is directly derivable by learners.

Etymology

Britishness comes from British, which comes from Britain, the name for the island and its people. The ending -ness means 'the quality or state', as in kindness, so Britishness is the 'quality' or 'feeling' of being British.