[f. as prec. + -NESS.]
† 1. Superficiality, formality. Cf. FASHIONABLE 2.
1608–11. Bp. Hall, Epist., III. iii. 43. All which that Babylonish religion shifteth off with a carelesse fashionablenesse. Ibid. (1612–5), Contempl. N. T. Bloody Issue, Wks. (1634), II. 139. Outward fashionablenesse comes into no account with God; that is onely done which the soule doth.
2. † a. Elegance, attractiveness (obs.). b. The quality or state of being in vogue or in conformity with fashion.
1640. Fuller, Joseph’s Party-coloured Coat, iii. (1867), 128. (To give the world, as well as the devil, her due) she hath for the time a kind of a pleasing fashionableness.
1661. Boyle, Style of Script. (1675), 190. A Fashionableness which within a short while will perhaps be Ridiculous.
1699. Locke, Educ., § 37. This outside fashionableness of the Taylor or Tire-woman’s making.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., I. xi. (1869), I. 165. The fashionableness and scarcity of the wine.
1841. Hor. Smith, Moneyed Man, I. iv. 95. Her quiet, unobtrusive prettiness would little accord with the ultra-fashionableness of a professed elegante.
