impartiality

Etymology

It is formed from English impartial + -ity.^[2][3][4] Impartial, first used in the sense "not favouring one side" by Shakespeare in the 1590s, is formed from the negative prefix in- and partial,^[3] which goes back through Old French parcial to Late Latin partiālis, from pars (“part”).^[5][3] Johnson (1755) derived the noun from French impartialité,^[6] but the OED records the French word only from 1725, more than a century after the English one, and gives it only for comparison.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quality of being impartial; freedom from prejudice or bias, fairness: 1611, in Cotgrave's French–English dictionary.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1610s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its first sense, fairness to all sides.^[2][4] Johnson (1755) glossed it as "equitableness; justice".^[6] A second sense, completeness, matching an obsolete sense of impartial, is recorded only in the early 18th century, in Blackall's works.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1611 – the quality of being impartial; fairness.^[2][4]
• before 1716 – completeness (obsolete, rare).^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality of being impartial; freedom from bias or favouritism; fairness: The judge was praised for her impartiality.^[7][2][4]
2. (obsolete) Completeness (early 18th century).^[2][4]

Related words

• impartial
• partial
• partiality
• part

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster