muchness

«muchness» in Mova's school dictionary: Greatness in amount or size — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (muchness, uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) (old, rare) Greatness in amount or size. tree →

2) (phrase, UK) «Much of a muchness» means nearly the same, with little difference: «The two shops are much of a muchness.» tree →

sense in the lessons

In Alice in Wonderland, at the Mad Tea-Party the Dormouse talks of drawing «all manner of things — everything that begins with an M — such as mouse-traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness — you know you say things are "much of a muchness"». It is a joke: you cannot draw «muchness». Today the word is used almost only in the phrase.

examples

• The two films were much of a muchness. tree →
• «Did you ever see such a thing as a drawing of a muchness?» asked the Dormouse. tree →
• Both pizzas are much of a muchness, so pick either. tree →
• These tents are much of a muchness — buy the cheaper one. tree →
• The Dormouse listed things beginning with M, like muchness. tree →
• The teams were much of a muchness, so the match was close. tree →

note

Used almost only in «much of a muchness» (UK, informal). Uncountable.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «muchness» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.