Definitions Related words Phrases Mentions History Easter eggs (New!)
this really exceedingly perplexing piece
“He forgave him for it,” he said, “from the very bottom of his heart; and for himself (Mr. Goodfellow), so far from pushing the suspicious circumstances to extremity, which he was sorry to say, really had arisen against Mr. Pennifeather, he (Mr. Goodfellow) would make every exertion in his power, would employ all the little eloquence in his possession to—to—to—soften down, as much as he could conscientiously do so, the worst features of this really exceedingly perplexing piece of business.”
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

the renowned English portrait painter
Dr. Franklin was nothing but a soap-boiler when he commenced; Roger Sherman was only a cobbler, and kept a book by his side on the bench; Ben Jonson was a mason and worked at his trade, with a trowel in one hand and a book in the other; John Hunter, the celebrated physiologist, was once a carpenter, working at day labor; John Foster was a weaver in his early life, and so was Dr. Livingstone, the missionary traveller; an American President was a hewer of wood in his youth, and hence he replied to a person who asked him what was his coat of arms, "A pair of shirt sleeves;" Washington was a farmer's boy, not ashamed to dirty his hands in cultivating the soil; John Opie, the renowned English portrait painter, sawed wood for a living before he became professor of painting in the Royal Academy; and hundreds of other distinguished men commenced their career in business no more respectable; but not one of them felt that dignity was compromised by their humble vocation.
— from The Bobbin Boy or, How Nat Got His learning by William Makepeace Thayer

there really exist partitions permeable
If there really exist partitions permeable to one body and impermeable to another, it may be imagined that the homogeneous mixture of these two bodies might be effected in the converse way.
— from The New Physics and Its Evolution by Lucien Poincaré

to recant eleven propositions publicly
He was denounced to the Inquisition, which imprisoned him and, after a long trial he was required, in 1537, to recant eleven propositions publicly in all the towns where he had preached, confessing that he had taught them at the instigation of the devil to propagate error in the Church.
— from A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 3 by Henry Charles Lea

They reminded each poor peasant
They reminded each poor peasant and foreign colonist that he was a superman, and that by day and by night he was to prepare for the time when he would become the head of all the people of the town or industry with which he was related.
— from The Blot on the Kaiser's 'Scutcheon by Newell Dwight Hillis

the rabble every pitiful pillager
And their own meant much to others; for with the stores and the munitions of war safe the city might rise, but it would be unarmed; but with them at the mercy of the rabble every pitiful pillager could become a recruit to the disloyal regiments.
— from On the Face of the Waters: A Tale of the Mutiny by Flora Annie Webster Steel

the Rhine eight parts per
Thus the water of the Seine has been found to contain fifteen parts of nitrates per million of water, and the Rhine eight parts per million.
— from Manures and the principles of manuring by Charles Morton Aikman

the royal ear poisoning poor
You must accompany me, and repeat your story, else I might be discredited by the reptiles who are for ever at the royal ear, poisoning poor, faithful Mrs. Morley's mind against her once beloved Mrs. Freeman .
— from The Imprudence of Prue by Sophie Fisher

to resolve every physiological process
In the last century, when it was so much the fashion to resolve every physiological process into a [Pg 200] mathematical problem, it was scarcely deemed necessary to spend much time in actual observation and examination; the proportions between the head and pelvis were ascertained, their angles were measured, and their curves determined, and from these data it was inferred, what must be the course which nature would follow; few attempted the slow but surer method of ascertaining by patient research the real facts connected with the process of parturition.
— from A System of Midwifery by Edward Rigby

traxere ruinam et pariter posuere
pariter traxere ruinam et pariter posuere comas campoque recumbunt, 380 Faunorum Dryadumque dolor.
— from Claudian, volume 2 (of 2) With an English translation by Maurice Platnauer by Claudius Claudianus


This tab, called Hiding in Plain Sight, shows you passages from notable books where your word is accidentally (or perhaps deliberately?) spelled out by the first letters of consecutive words. Why would you care to know such a thing? It's not entirely clear to us, either, but it's fun to explore! What's the longest hidden word you can find? Where is your name hiding?



Home   Reverse Dictionary / Thesaurus   Datamuse   Word games   Spruce   Feedback   Dark mode   Random word   Help


Color thesaurus

Use OneLook to find colors for words and words for colors

See an example

Literary notes

Use OneLook to learn how words are used by great writers

See an example

Word games

Try our innovative vocabulary games

Play Now

Read the latest OneLook newsletter issue: Compound Your Joy