Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GEN'U-INE-NESS, n.

The state of being native, or of the true original; hence, freedom from adulteration or foreign admixture; freedom from any thing false or counterfeit; purity; reality; as, the genuineness of Livy's history the genuineness of faith or repentance. [Bp. Watson, in his Apology for the Bible, considers authenticity and genuineness to be quite distinct, the former referring to the correctness of the facts detailed, and the latter to the authorship of the book containing them; while on the other hand they are used by Bishop Marsh as synonymous. – E. H. B.]