Literary notes about Infract (AI summary)
The term "infract" is portrayed as an act of transgression or violation of established rules and customs in literature. Authors use it to capture scenarios of both literal and metaphorical rule-breaking: sometimes as a deliberate act that carries the promise of reprieve, as when a character risks a conscious infraction to gain favor [1], and other times as an inadvertent breach that leads to severe consequences, such as being ostracized or punished [2], [3]. It is also discussed in legal or technical contexts, where its morphological relationship to words like "fracture" is examined [4], while in other narratives it denotes the careful balance between personal autonomy and societal conventions [5], [6], [7], [8], [9]. In certain contexts the term even extends to physical actions, blending the abstract with the tangible [10], [11], [12].
- But if I should infract—deliberately infract—it would enable the chief to let me go.
— from I, the Unspeakable by Walter J. Sheldon - I might infract socially and be classified a nonconform and sent to Marscol.
— from I, the Unspeakable by Walter J. Sheldon - We are here above you, both of you Senors, rifles in hand, to see that you die the second you infract any of the rules.
— from Hearts of Three by Jack London - fract : frac'tion; frac'tious; fract'ure; infract' (-ion); refract' (-ion, -ory).
— from New Word-AnalysisOr, School Etymology of English Derivative Words by William Swinton - During their emigration, it is said these poor superstitious matrons were put to infinite trouble so as not to infract this custom.
— from Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, 1831-1839, part 2 by Josiah Gregg - "Petter," said he, "I don't ask you to infract your rules.
— from The Squirrel Inn by Frank Richard Stockton - We needed you for our colony, only it wasn't likely that you'd infract all by yourself.
— from I, the Unspeakable by Walter J. Sheldon - “But he will never venture to infract the neutrality of the waters surely,” rejoined I, “within sight of the squadron too?”
— from Tom Cringle's Log by Michael Scott - These feudal tenures were established in law; woe to the tenant who presumed to infract them!
— from History of the Great American Fortunes, Vol. IConditions in Settlement and Colonial Times by Gustavus Myers - I was still conformal; the last thing in my mind was that I would infract and be psycho-scanned.
— from I, the Unspeakable by Walter J. Sheldon - "Rather than go on nutrition kits, I'll infract."
— from I, the Unspeakable by Walter J. Sheldon - [p. 163] is needed sometimes not to fracture or to infract them and to avoid periosteal pain in lifting.
— from A System of Practical Medicine. By American Authors. Vol. 2 General Diseases (Continued) and Diseases of the Digestive System
