fondness

• fondnesse (obsolete)

From Middle English fondnes, fondnesse, fonnednesse, equivalent to fond +‎ -ness.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɑndnəs/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɒndnəs/

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• Hyphenation: fond‧ness

fondness (countable and uncountable, plural fondnesses)

1. The quality of being fond: liking something, foolishness; doting affection; propensity.
   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, “Part I, Chapter xvii”, in The Story of My Experiments with Truth‎, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai:

     I stopped taking the sweets and condiments I had got from home. The mind having taken a different turn, the fondness for condiments wore away, and I now relished the boiled spinach which in Richmond tasted insipid, cooked without condiments. Many such experiments taught me that the real seat of taste was not the tongue but the mind.