different between lightness vs wantonness

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English lightnes, lightnesse, from Old English l?htnes; equivalent to light (“bright, luminous”, adjective) +? -ness (suffix forming nouns).

Noun

lightness (countable and uncountable, plural lightnesses)

1. (uncountable) the condition of being illuminated
2. (uncountable) the relative whiteness or transparency of a colour
3. (countable) The product of being illuminated.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English lightnes, lightnesse,; equivalent to light (“not heavy”, adjective) +? -ness (suffix forming nouns).

Noun

lightness (uncountable)

1. The state of having little weight, or little force.
2. Agility of movement.
3. Freedom from worry.
4. Levity, frivolity; inconsistency.
   • , New York 2001, p.75:

     Seneca […] accounts it a filthy lightness in men, every day to lay new foundations of their life, but who doth otherwise?

Translations

References

Anagrams

• nightless, slightens

English

Etymology

From Middle English wantonnesse, wantonesse, wantounesse, wantownesse, equivalent to wanton +? -ness.

Noun

wantonness (usually uncountable, plural wantonnesses)

1. (uncountable) The state or characteristic of being wanton; recklessness, especially as represented in lascivious or other excessive behavior.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act IV scene ii^[1]:

     The spirit of wantonness is, sure, scared out of him: if the devil have him not in fee-simple, with fine and recovery, he will never, I think, in the way of waste, attempt us again.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, ch. 16:

     The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness.

2. (countable, dated) A particular wanton act.
   • 1882, John Gorham Palfrey, History of New England during the Stuart Dynasty, Little Brown (Boston), v. 3, p. 366:

     These were simply the wantonnesses of a dishonest man.