What does fulness mean?
Fulness is a noun denoting the state of being full — whether physically filled, abundantly supplied, or complete in every respect. It can describe something as tangible as a basket brimming with fruit or as abstract as the richness of a life well lived. In religious contexts, particularly those shaped by the King James Bible, "fulness" carries weighty theological meaning, as in "the fulness of time" or "the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Synonymous with abundance, plenty, and plenitude, it connotes sufficiency and satisfaction rather than mere occupation of space. Though once the standard spelling throughout the English-speaking world, "fulness" has largely given way to "fullness" — which adds the second "l" of its root adjective "full" — so that today the single-l form survives mainly in literary, devotional, and archaizing texts. Readers who meet it are encountering an older orthography of a familiar idea: the quality of lacking nothing.
nounThe state or quality of being full; the condition of containing or holding as much as possible. In theology, it denotes completeness or plenitude, especially the fullness of divine grace or presence.
- The state of being filled to capacity; completeness or abundance.
- In theological usage: plenitude of divine grace, blessing, or presence (especially in biblical language such as 'the fulness of time').
"The garden reached its fullness in late summer, every border crowded with bloom."
"The harvest festival celebrated the year's fulness with tables laden with produce."
"Paul wrote that when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son."
Rarely used; the plural appears almost exclusively in theological or scholarly writing discussing multiple instances of divine or material abundance.
"The theologian compared the several fulnesses described in Paul's epistles."
KJV readers have been spelling it without the second "l" since 1611 — "the fulness of time" is one of the Bible's most quoted phrases, and the older spelling survives wherever that translation does.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of fulness
Fulness derives from the Old English adjective "full," meaning complete or entire, combined with the noun-forming suffix "/-ness/" to denote a state or quality. Cognates appear across the Germanic family, reflecting a root sense of completeness shared with words like German "Fülle" (abundance). More distantly, the concept aligns with Latin-derived borrowings such as "plenitude" and "plenary," from Latin "plenus" (full), which entered English as learned alternatives. The single-l spelling arose because the suffix "/-ness/" was attached through an intermediate vowel-dropping convention; later standardization restored the second "l" in "fullness," leaving "fulness" as the historically earlier form still seen in the King James Bible of 1611.
Related word forms
How fulness is actually used
"Fulness" is now chiefly literary, archaic, or associated with the King James Bible and traditional hymnody; modern American style guides and most British publishers prefer the spelling "fullness." The double-l form reflects the word's origin from "full," while the single-l spelling follows the convention of dropping a silent final "e" pattern historically applied to some adjectives-turned-suffixes. Neither spelling changes pronunciation or meaning.
Easily confused with fulness
"Fulness" is simply the older British spelling of "fullness" — the two are the same word in different forms, with "fullness" now standard in both American and modern British English.