What does adhesiveness mean?
Adhesiveness is a noun denoting the quality of sticking or clinging — the tendency of one material to adhere to another. It is closely related to adhesion but emphasizes the property itself rather than the act or process. In materials science, engineering, and manufacturing, adhesiveness describes how well glues, coatings, tapes, and films bond to surfaces, and it is often measured alongside cohesion, which concerns a material's internal stickiness. The word also has a curious historical life: nineteenth-century phrenologists used 'adhesiveness' as the name of a supposed mental faculty governing friendship, loyalty, and attachment, which they claimed to read from a region of the skull. Today that sense survives only in historical accounts of phrenology. In contemporary writing, adhesiveness remains a precise, somewhat formal term best suited to technical discussion of bonding and surface properties.
The quality or state of adhering; the tendency of a substance to stick or cling to a surface.
"The tape's adhesiveness held even on wet glass."
Technical register; 'adhesion' is more common in general usage.
In phrenology, a supposed faculty of the mind governing attachment, affection, and loyalty.
"Phrenologists located adhesiveness at the back of the head."
Historical sense, confined to discussions of nineteenth-century phrenology.
Victorian phrenologists believed you could measure your loyalty by feeling for a bump on your skull — they called that bump 'adhesiveness.'
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of adhesiveness
Adhesiveness derives from the Latin verb 'adhaerere', meaning 'to stick to', formed from 'ad-' ('to, toward') plus 'haerere' ('to stick, cling'). The English adjective 'adhesive' was formed from this root in the seventeenth century, and 'adhesiveness' arose as its noun form. The same Latin root gives English 'adhere', 'adhesion', 'adherent', and 'incoherent' via related formations.
Related word forms
How adhesiveness is actually used
Mostly technical or scientific in modern use; the phrenological sense is historical and appears only in discussions of nineteenth-century phrenology. The plain word 'adhesion' is more common in everyday and scientific contexts.
Easily confused with adhesiveness
Adhesiveness is the tendency to stick to a different substance or surface, whereas cohesiveness is the tendency of particles of the same substance to stick together.