a. not able to be entered; beyond understanding
At one time she would seem in love with him, and then she would become cold, irritable, and impenetrable.
He had a haughty bearing, a look either steady and impenetrable or insolently piercing and inquisitorial.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 48. Ideology. The thunder ceased; but the rain still continued, and the scene was enveloped in an impenetrable darkness.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 7 v. mimic; imitate; assume or act the character of represent another person with comic intentions
His one eye met hers with an impersonal animosity.
She had studied the boys pityingly, but impersonally.
For a brief moment she wondered with impersonal curiosity what would be expected of a mistress.
v. bring in from another country
Ethan knew the word for one of exceptional import.
Scarlett had rejoined Maybelle and Mrs. Meade before the import of his last words broke upon her.
He felt that the import of his speech was of such magnitude that every word of it would have weight.
a. invulnerable; able to withstand attack
The heights of Kennesaw were impregnable.
The lines around Kennesaw Mountain are impregnable.
Some weeks after, the Commodore set sail in this impregnable craft for Valparaiso.
v. start; initiate; induct into office by formal ceremony
Miss Josephine Sleary, as some very long and very narrow strips of printed bill announced, was then inaugurating the entertainments with her graceful equestrian Tyrolean flower-act.
I'd rather Bonnie was invited to eat dry bread in the Picards' miserable house or Mrs. Elsing's rickety barn than to be the belle of a Republican inaugural ball.
n. singing or chanting of magic spells; magical formula; verbal charm or spell
Hagar, the witch, chanted an awful incantation over her kettleful of simmering toads, with weird effect.
So still and subdued and yet somehow preluding was all the scene, and such an incantation of reverie lurked in the air, that each silent sailor seemed resolved into his own invisible self.
Endeavoring, then, to collect his ideas, he prepared to perform that species of incantation, and those uncouth rites, under which the Indian conjurers are accustomed to conceal their ignorance and impotency.
The Last of the Mohicans By James Fenimore CooperContext Highlight In CHAPTER 25 v. arouse to action; motivate; induce to exist
The dog, incited by its master, sprang over the wicket-gate and pursued the unfortunate baronet, who fled screaming down the yew alley.
The Hound of the Baskervilles By A. Conan DoyleContext Highlight In Chapter 15. A Retrospection Now they had not only the Bureau agitators and the Carpetbaggers urging them on, but the incitement of whisky as well, and outrages were inevitable.
And thanks to the incitement of the Freedmen's Bureau, negroes could always be found who were willing to bring accusations.
a. without any clear results or proof
It is by endless subdivisions based upon the most inconclusive differences, that some departments of natural history become so repellingly intricate.
a. difficult to believe; incredible; skeptical
With an effort I managed to restrain my incredulous laughter.
Elizabeth looked at her sister with incredulous solicitude, but said nothing.
Still I did not answer, and still I writhed myself from his grasp: for I was still incredulous.
a. tireless; showing sustained enthusiastic action
A more resolute, indefatigable pioneer never wrought amidst rocks and dangers.
Encouraged by this discovery, Edmond determined to assist the indefatigable laborer.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 15. Number 34 and Number 27. He was respected by all who knew him for his integrity and indefatigable attention to public business.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 1 a. impossible to remove, erase, or wash away; permanent
I see her face now, better than I did then, I dare say, with its indelible look of regret and wonder turned upon me.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 24. MY FIRST DISSIPATION Six years had elapsed, passed in a dream but for one indelible trace, and I stood in the same place where I had last embraced my father before my departure for Ingolstadt.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 7 Fanny thought exactly the same; and they were also quite agreed in their opinion of the lasting effect, the indelible impression, which such a disappointment must make on his mind.
n. offensive or insulting treatment
There are men from whom warm words are small indignity.
Carol perceived that Mrs. Dyer was accustomed to this indignity.
Miss Bingley warmly resented the indignity he had received, in an expostulation with her brother for talking such nonsense.
a. lacking discretion; injudicious
He visited me several times after that and each time I was indiscreet.
Once, she whispered, she was going by when an indiscreet window-shade had been left up a couple of inches.
If Carol was so indiscreet as to murmur that she had a small headache, instantly the two Smails and Kennicott were at it.
a. yielding; lenient; forbearing or tolerant
But for this prince he was an inferior, and his contemptuous and indulgent attitude to him revolted him.
The old feeling of indulgent tenderness overcame her vexation, and she grew thoroughly moved and alarmed.
To the world and to his servants Danglars assumed the character of the good-natured man and the indulgent father.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 95. Father and Daughter. n. property of matter by which it tends when at rest to remain so, and when in motion to continue in motion, and in the same straight line or direction
It went of itself, like all such boards, by the mere force of inertia.
For the rest, among the old trees was depth within depth of grey, hopeless inertia, silence, nothingness.
But she was getting cold; yet the overwhelming inertia of her inner resentment kept her there as if paralysed.
a. not explicable; not explainable; incapable of being explained, interpreted, or accounted for
The coincidence struck me as too awful and inexplicable to be communicated or discussed.
Nothing could be distinguished but a dark mass of human forms tossed and involved in inexplicable confusion.
The Last of the Mohicans By James Fenimore CooperContext Highlight In CHAPTER 23 At times there are gestures in it, which, though they would well grace the hand of man, remain wholly inexplicable.
a. possessed by an unreasoning passion or attraction; overcome by some foolish passion or desire
I shuddered to hear the infatuated assertion.
She was one of those people who are infatuated with patent medicines and all new-fangled methods of producing health or mending it.
Seeing, however, that his forbearance had not the slightest effect, by an awful and unspeakable intimation with his twisted hand he warned off the foolish and infatuated man; but it was to no purpose.
Moby Dick By Herman MelvilleContext Highlight In CHAPTER 54. The Town-Ho's Story. a. unlimited or boundless, in time or space; without limit in power, capacity, knowledge, or excellence
Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.
Mr. Micawber, I may remark, had taken his full share of the general bow, and had received it with infinite condescension.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 28. Mr. MICAWBER'S GAUNTLET His fine and lovely eyes were now lighted up with indignation, now subdued to downcast sorrow and quenched in infinite wretchedness.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 24 a. not human; not governed by feelings proper to human nature; specifically, not humane; hard-hearted; unfeeling; cruel
the bruise of the false inhuman war.
We sailed hence, always in much distress, till we came to the land of the lawless and inhuman Cyclopes.
From the top of a small hill came level belchings of yellow flame that caused an inhuman whistling in the air.
a. unfriendly; hostile; harmful; detrimental
They felt that a thousand inimical eyes looked at them through the unshaded front window and the four women, with fear in their hearts, bent their heads and plied their needles.
Mary was not so repulsive and unsisterly as Elizabeth, nor so inaccessible to all influence of hers; neither was there anything among the other component parts of the cottage inimical to comfort.
In other words, Mr. Dimmesdale, whose sensibility of nerve often produced the effect of spiritual intuition, would become vaguely aware that something inimical to his peace had thrust itself into relation with him.
The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel HawthorneContext Highlight In X. THE LEECH AND HIS PATIENT a. having no adverse effect; harmless
But every time she brought up the subject, Melanie deftly steered the conversation into other and innocuous channels.
n. a new method, idea, product; introduction of something new
Her only innovation was painting the pine table a black and orange rather shocking to the Thanatopsis.
However, she was determined to accomplish it, for Rhett was coming to supper and he always noticed and commented upon any innovation of dress or hair.
Such an innovation on the silence and retirement of the forest could not fail to enlist the ears of those who journeyed at so short a distance in advance.
v. write or engrave; mark down as something to be read; imprint; assign or address to
It is a fine name to inscribe on my ledgers, and my cashier was quite proud of it when I explained to him who the Cavalcanti were.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 66. Matrimonial Projects. On its back was pasted a strip of coarse brown wrapping paper, inscribed in pale homemade ink.
He then called for his horses, drove to the Chamber, and inscribed his name to speak against the budget.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 66. Matrimonial Projects. a. impenetrable; not readily understood; mysterious
He tasks me; he heaps me; I see in him outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it.
He leaned back carelessly in his chair and looked into her tense face and his own dark face was inscrutable.
He looked at her oddly, still inscrutable and as she hurried on she could not tell if he were amused or repelled.
n. understanding; grasping the inner nature of things intuitively
It was no good for him to use his insight.
She had a singular insight into life, considering that she had never mixed with it.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 3: 3 The First Act in a Timeworn Drama And thus, in a few days, by the help of a very faithful memory, I got some insight into their language.
Gulliver's Travels(V2) By Jonathan SwiftContext Highlight In PART 3: CHAPTER II. a. bankrupt; unable to repay one's debts
Having died insolvent, it had been purchased, at a bargain, by Legree, who used it, as he did everything else, merely as an implement for money-making.
I pondered the mystery a minute or two; but finding it insolvable, and being certain it could not be of much moment, I dismissed, and soon forgot it.
v. drop in; pour in drop by drop; impart gradually; infuse slowly; cause to be imbibed.
All the courtesy, all the gentleness Ellen had striven to instill in her had fallen away from her as quickly as leaves fall from trees in the first chill wind of autumn.
I feared early instilled prejudice: I wanted to have you safe before hazarding confidences.
Golenishtchev never let slip an opportunity of instilling sound ideas about art into Mihailov.
a. incapable of being excelled; unbeatable
The fact that he had made her an offer, and she had refused him, had placed an insuperable barrier between her and him.
I do not think that even he could now hope to succeed with one of her stamp, and therefore I hope we may find no insuperable difficulty.
In this manner, rocks, precipices and difficulties were surmounted in an incredibly short space, that at another time, and under other circumstances, would have been deemed almost insuperable.
The Last of the Mohicans By James Fenimore CooperContext Highlight In CHAPTER 32 v. get involved; come, appear, or lie between two things
She counted the days that must intervene before their invitation could be sent; hopeless of seeing him before.
Allowing ten seconds to intervene, she rose; paused; and then, as if she had heard the last strain die out, offered Mrs. Giles Oliver her hand.
An intervening elevation of land hid the light.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 8. The Chateau D'If. n. act of making timid or fearful , of deterring by threats; state of being intimidated
Amazed and intimidated, she gazed at him in silence.
I am not to be intimidated into anything so wholly unreasonable.
As I spoke, rage sparkled in my eyes; the magistrate was intimidated.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 23 n. refusal of any compromise; stubbornness
Connie did a mild form of war-work, and consorted with the flannel-trousers Cambridge intransigents, who gently mocked at everything, so far.
n. check list; a collection of resources
The valet bowed and retired, and Albert returned to his inventory.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 91. Mother and Son. When this inventory was read over to the emperor, he directed me, although in very gentle terms, to deliver up the several particulars.
Gulliver's Travels(V1) By Jonathan SwiftContext Highlight In PART 1: CHAPTER II. There's messuages; tenements; napery; cattle; my dowry; an inventory.
v. turn upside down or inside out; reverse the position, order, or condition of
Give not thyself up, then, to fire, lest it invert thee, deaden thee; as for the time it did me.
All the same, he offered her a soft stream of a queer, inverted sort of love.
Convulsively my hands grasped the tiller, but with the crazy conceit that the tiller was, somehow, in some enchanted way, inverted.
a. irritable; easily angered; excited by or arising from anger
He was almost barefoot, crawling with lice, and he was hungry, but his irascible spirit was unimpaired.
The threat sounded awful, but did not alarm Jo, for she knew the irascible old gentleman would never lift a finger against his grandson, whatever he might say to the contrary.
Uncle Henry was a short, pot-bellied, irascible old gentleman with a pink face, a shock of long silver hair and an utter lack of patience with feminine timidities and vaporings.
a. incompatible; not able to be resolved
I had so much time to spare, that the proposal came as a relief, notwithstanding its irreconcilability with my latent desire to keep my eye on the coach-office.
a. unable to be restrained; difficult or impossible to control or restrain
And yet the song was irrepressible.
Utterson heaved an irrepressible sigh.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde By Robert Louis StevensonContext Highlight In CHAPTER DR. JEKYLL WAS QUITE AT EASE And irrepressible delight and eagerness shone in her face.
a. unalterable; irreversible; impossible to retract or revoke
We stood with bitter hearts on either side of the mangled body, overwhelmed by this sudden and irrevocable disaster which had brought all our long and weary labours to so piteous an end.
The Hound of the Baskervilles By A. Conan DoyleContext Highlight In Chapter 12. Death on the Moor Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 10 However, it is always as well to have a look at him before irrevocably committing yourself into his hands.
v. talk rapidly, unintelligibly, or idly
I got some of their jabber out of a book.
He has so much worry and work, while I do nothing but jabber to Bea.
The purple darkness was filled with men who lectured and jabbered.
a. prejudiced; affected by jaundice which causes yellowing of skin; yellow or yellowish
Men who look on nature, and their fellow-men, and cry that all is dark and gloomy, are in the right; but the sombre colours are reflections from their own jaundiced eyes and hearts.
One of these was of weak mind, and we did not dare to trust him, and the other was suffering from jaundice, and could not be of any use to us.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In V. The Adventure of The "Gloria Scott" a. happy; merry; joyful and proud especially because of triumph or success
At recess Tom continued his flirtation with Amy with jubilant self-satisfaction.
His friend, jubilant and glorified, holding his treasure with vanity, came to him there.
They were jubilant with vanity over their new grandeur and the illustrious trouble they were making.
n. authority; right and power to interpret and apply the law
They soon had a proof, however, that they were still within the jurisdiction of the Saints.
A Study In Scarlet By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In PART II: CHAPTER IV. A FLIGHT FOR LIFE MICAWBER, and the defendant in that cause is the prey of the sheriff having legal jurisdiction in this bailiwick.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 54. Mr. MICAWBER'S TRANSACTIONS Now the Cinque Ports are partially or somehow under the jurisdiction of a sort of policeman or beadle, called a Lord Warden.
a. dull; lacking luster or shine
n. a landowner who leases to others; a person who rents land, a building, or an apartment to a tenant
I begged Traddles to ask his landlord to walk up.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 27. TOMMY TRADDLES As I was not able to cut my dinner, the old landlord with a shining bald head did it for me.
Saying which he went out in disdain; and the landlord, having no one to reply upon, found it impracticable to pursue the subject.
n. the position of a prominent or well-known object in a particular landscape; a mark showing the boundary of a piece of land
I had abundant occupation for my thoughts, in every conspicuous landmark on the road.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 19. I LOOK ABOUT ME, AND MAKE A DISCOVERY Then Roland went away, and the girl stood like a red landmark in the field and waited for her beloved.
This was the first town house one passed driving in from the farm, a landmark which told country people their long ride was over.
a. lacking energy or vitality; weak; sluggish; lacking spirit or liveliness
His wife was shrill, languid, handsome and horrible.
Ethan, with a touch of his whip, roused the sorrel to a languid trot.
In India she had always felt hot and too languid to care much about anything.
a. deserving of praise; worthy of high praise
Locksley now proceeded to the distribution of the spoil, which he performed with the most laudable impartiality.
Indolence and love of ease; a want of all laudable ambition, of taste for good company, or of inclination to take the trouble of being agreeable, which make men clergymen.
That's a laudable proceeding on the part of our aunt, at all events,' said Steerforth, when I mentioned it; 'and one deserving of all encouragement.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 23. I CORROBORATE Mr. DICK, AND CHOOSE A PROFESSI... n. small leaf; leaf like organ or part
He had published a pamphlet about it, and set out to organize a party of his own, when a stray Socialist leaflet had revealed to him that others had been ahead of him.
a. freed, especially from traditional ideas in social and sexual matters; of liberate
Lily slipped out last among the band of liberated work-women.
Each of us a free man; plates washed by machinery; not an aeroplane to vex us; all liberated; made whole.
Cathy begged that he might be liberated then, as Isabella Linton had no partner: her entreaties were vain, and I was appointed to supply the deficiency.
n. long life; great duration of life; long duration or continuance, as in an occupation
a. profitable; producing good profit
Easy, pleasant, lucrative home-work for wives: asking people to define their jobs.
It would be long indeed ere you would find so lucrative a post as that you have now the good fortune to fill.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 46. Unlimited Credit. One of our most lucrative means of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security is unimpeachable.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET a. causing shock or horror; gruesome
His busy mind had drawn for him large pictures extravagant in color, lurid with breathless deeds.
He was listening with eagerness and much humility to the lurid descriptions of a bearded sergeant.
The sky was a hideous lurid color and great swirls of black smoke went twisting up to hand in billowy clouds above the flames.
a. pleasing or sweet to taste or smell
There are luscious figs also, and olives in full growth.
It was a clear little stream which ran quite merrily along on its narrow way through the luscious damp greenness.
The elders of the flocks continually led stealthy advances into the front yard, lured on by the green of the grass and the luscious promise of the cape jessamine buds and the zinnia beds.
a. having or exhibiting ill will; wishing harm to others; malicious
Archie turned to her, his eye malevolent, and when he spoke there was cold anger in his rusty voice.
Driven by desire and by dread of the malevolent Thing outside, he made his round in the wood, slowly, softly.
She turned and there stood India, white faced, her pale eyes blazing, and Archie, malevolent as a one-eyed parrot.
n. misconduct or wrongdoing, especially by public official
n. failure; breakdown; faulty or abnormal functioning
n. assembly of persons wearing masks, and amusing themselves with dancing, conversation, or other diversions; dramatic performance by actors in masks
Something of masquerade I suspected.
with mirth and music the masquerade went on.
On chairs were laid elegant masquerade costumes of blue and white satin.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 35. La Mazzolata. n. killing of a considerable number of human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty
But when the hunter reached the scene of the ruthless massacre, the ledge was tenanted only by the dead.
The Last of the Mohicans By James Fenimore CooperContext Highlight In CHAPTER 32 As I thought of that, I was almost moved to begin a massacre of the helpless abominations about me, but I contained myself.
The massacre of men who were fellow Christians, and of the same Slavonic race, excited sympathy for the sufferers and indignation against the oppressors.
a. gloomy; feeling of thoughtful sadness; affected by depression
My journey was very melancholy.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 7 The undergraduate nodded in a cynical, melancholy way.
As my sickness quitted me, I was absorbed by a gloomy and black melancholy that nothing could dissipate.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 21 a. suitable for servant; having low nature
She loved having his body in her charge, absolutely, to the last menial offices.
From his complete inattention to the tidings, you would think that moody Ahab had not heard his menial.
The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a menial, who announced that a monk demanded admittance at the postern gate.
a. interested in making money; profit oriented; hired for service in foreign army
Though perhaps that is merely a synonym for mercenary.
It is an advantage to get about in such a case without taking a mercenary into your confidence.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In XII. The Adventure of The Final Problem The leaders of the mercenaries received a donation in gold; an argument the most persuasive to their minds, and without which all others would have proved in vain.
n. imaginary circle on surface of the earth through the north and south poles at right angles to the equator; noon
The sun had nearly reached the meridian, and his scorching rays fell full on the rocks, which seemed themselves sensible of the heat.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 24. The Secret Cave. I feared my hopes were too bright to be realised; and I had enjoyed so much bliss lately that I imagined my fortune had passed its meridian, and must now decline.
Open a passage; and I promise ye, Mistress Prynne shall be set where man, woman, and child may have a fair sight of her brave apparel from this time till an hour past meridian.
The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel HawthorneContext Highlight In II. THE MARKET-PLACE n. quality of endurance and courage; good temperament and character
They mistook the mettle of their sons.
Such is my spirit when I am on my mettle.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 4: 7 The Tragic Meeting of Two Old Friends His horses were full of mettle, and even a little unmanageable.