Literary notes about Amazing (AI summary)
The word "amazing" functions as a versatile tool to convey astonishment, wonder, and even irony throughout literary works. It is employed to underscore moments of extraordinary achievement or unexpected events, as when a character experiences the most amazing sensation of self-determination ([1]) or when a society is marveled at for its recurrent natural beauty ([2]). In some works, the adjective accentuates both the marvel of human endeavors, such as an amazing system of industries ([3]), and the humorous or critical observation of human nature, as when a character is noted for amazing self-conceit ([4]). At times, it even lends a physical quality to the narrative, like describing walls of amazing thickness ([5]) or capturing the astonishing speed of a guillemot ([6]). Through such varied uses—from emotional and descriptive to ironic and critical—the term enriches the reader’s experience by highlighting the extraordinariness of both events and characters ([7], [8], [9]).
- The sensation of giving orders, of controlling my destiny, was the most amazing thing I'd ever felt.
— from Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - All their lives they had seen, year by year, the amazing recurrent spectacle of April in the gardens, and custom had made it invisible to them.
— from The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim - From this assured and permanent advantage, against which artificial conditions cannot much longer prevail, has grown an amazing system of industries.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein - "His petitions to the municipal council", writes M. Bermann [66] , "are amazing examples of measureless self-conceit and the boldest greed.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - The surrounding walls, of amazing thickness, kept off all sounds behind them.
— from The Piazza Tales by Herman Melville - The speed with which the guillemot cuts the water is truly amazing.
— from Little Folks (September 1884) by Various - “Upon my integrity!” exclaimed the incredulous doctor, “this is very amazing and extraordinary!
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. Smollett - It was an amazing spectacle this, of dead men dragged out to battle, and corpses mustered to fight.
— from The Danish History, Books I-IX by Grammaticus Saxo - In the first place, the amount of butter, and Texel and Leyden cheese consumed, seems amazing.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville