Lowness is the quality or state of being low. The word describes physical position (the lowness of the basement ceiling made tall visitors duck), lack of intensity (the lowness of the music volume), or inadequacy (the lowness of his test scores worried his parents).

You might notice the lowness of someone's voice when they whisper, or comment on the lowness of prices at a sale. In music, lowness refers to deep pitch: the lowness of a tuba's notes compared to a flute's high ones.

Sometimes lowness describes moral character or behavior that falls below acceptable standards, as when someone's lowness is revealed through dishonest actions. A person might stoop to surprising lowness by stealing a friend's lunch money or lying to get someone else in trouble.

The word captures a sense of being beneath where something should be, whether that's physical height, volume, quality, or character.