uniformity

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English uniformite,^[2][3][4] either borrowed from Old French uniformite, recorded from the 14th century,^[5][2][6][7] which Merriam-Webster Unabridged, Klein and Dictionary.com call uniformité,^[3][4][8] or directly borrowed from Late Latin ūnifōrmitās,^[6][5][7][9] formed from ūnifōrmis (“having only one form or shape”) and the suffix -itās,^[6][3][8] from ūnus (“one”) and fōrma (“form”),^[5] the source of uniform.^[5][10] The OED compares Italian uniformità, Spanish uniformidad and Portuguese uniformidade, with Dutch uniformiteit and German Uniformität later.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Conformity or equality among several things or parts: before 1475, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon which may have been made before 1425, where Zeno makes every sin "of vniformite", equal in degree.^[6][2] Etymonline dates the word to the early 15th century,^[5] and Dictionary.com to 1400–50.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant likeness among several things.^[6] By 1548–9 it also meant conformity to one standard of opinion or practice, especially in religion, in the title of the Act of Uniformity;^[6] the Shorter Oxford counts four such Acts on public worship and the Book of Common Prayer, the chief one being that of May 1662.^[9] From 1577 the word also meant a thing's agreement with itself over time, regularity;^[6] from 1625, in Bacon, it meant similarity of appearance or design.^[6] Johnson (1755) separated "resemblance to itself; even tenour" from "conformity to one pattern".^[11] A note of tedium appears about 1700,^[5] and the OED has "wearisome sameness" from 1707.^[6] The adjective uniform kept the plain sense of one form, and its clothing sense arose only in the mid-18th century.^[10] In 1837, in Whewell's History of the Inductive Sciences, it has a specific use in geology, which the OED compares with uniformitarianism.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1475 – conformity among several things or parts.^[6][2]
• 1548 – conformity to one standard of opinion or practice, especially in religion, in the Act of Uniformity.^[6]
• 1560 – with a or an, an instance of such conformity.^[6]
• 1577 – the condition of keeping to one form or character; regularity.^[6]
• 1625 – similarity of appearance, design or structure.^[6]
• 1665 – a uniform feature or law, with a plural.^[6]
• 1707 – wearisome sameness, monotony.^[6] Etymonline dates this suggestion to about 1700.^[5]
• 1837 – in geology, the idea behind uniformitarianism, in W. Whewell.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being the same throughout, regular and without variation: The factory checks the uniformity of each batch of paint.^[12][3][6]
2. Conformity to one pattern or standard, especially in religion.^[3][6][9]
3. Similarity of appearance, design or parts.^[6][9]
4. Tiresome sameness; monotony, or a lack of diversity.^[12][3][6]
5. An instance of being uniform; a uniform feature or state.^[6][3][9]

Word family

• nonuniformity
• uniformitarian

Related words

• uniform
• uni-
• form

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins