[f. as prec. + -NESS.] Clownish quality; rusticity, rudeness; want of politeness, culture or refinement.
1576. Fleming, Panoplie Ep., 372. Ignoraunce … ingendreth in him rusticalitie or clownishnesse.
1692. Locke, Educ., 67. That plainness of Nature, which the Alamode people call Clownishness.
1852. Miss Yonge, Cameos (1877), I. i. 4. The English were degenerating into clownishness.
