righteousness
/ˈɹaɪt͡ʃəsnəs/noun
righteousness is spelled R-I-G-H-T-E-O-U-S-N-E-S-S: 13 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,368th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, righteousness means “The quality or state of being righteous” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of righteousness is righteousnesses.
How many letters and syllables are in righteousness?
| Letters | 13: R-I-G-H-T-E-O-U-S-N-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.0 times per million words; the 15,368th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is righteousness?
Righteousness appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,368th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce righteousness?
- /ˈɹaɪt͡ʃəsnəs/
Righteousness has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-righteousness.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of righteousness
- righteousnesses plural
- righteousnesse
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does righteousness mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The quality or state of being righteous.
- 2
Holiness; conformity of life to the divine law.
- 3
archaicA righteous act or quality.
- 4
The behaviour of someone who is righteous.
- 5
The state of being right with God; justification; the work of Christ, which is the ground justification.
There are two kinds of Christian righteousness: the one without us, which we have by imputation; the other in us, which consisteth of faith, hope, and charity, and other Christian virtues.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Righteousness in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | justice |
| German | Rechtschaffenheit, Gerechtigkeit, Tugendhaftigkeit |
| Portuguese | retidão, moralidade |
| Spanish | rectitud, moralidad, honradez , buena obra , gracia |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does righteousness come from?
From earlier rightwiseness, from Middle English rightwisnes, from Old English rihtwīsnes (“justice”), equivalent to righteous + -ness.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).