Literary notes about Inquisitive (AI summary)
In literature, "inquisitive" is used to convey a multifaceted sense of curiosity that can be both endearing and intrusive. Authors employ the term to illustrate subtle, observational behavior—as seen when a character turns a waistcoat’s collar with an inquisitive finger ([1]) or casts a probing gaze to recognize a familiar face ([2]). Sometimes it characterizes a meddlesome personality, one who cannot resist prying into matters best left untouched ([3], [4]), while in other contexts it hints at a broader, often adventurous urge to explore and understand the world, much like the careful examinations of an inquisitive traveller ([5], [6]). This versatile adjective enriches character portrayals and adds a layer of psychological depth, whether describing a moment of tender, reflective observation or an overt search for hidden truths ([7], [8]).
- But, he now leaned forward, turning the collar of his waistcoat with an inquisitive finger, and asked, 'Why, where's your watch?'
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - Edgar Linton, after an inquisitive stare, collected sufficient wit to recognise her.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - He was, besides, a meddlesome, inquisitive man, who poked his nose into everything.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - no telling to others that make so inquisitive questions.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker - One investigator deals with things like a policeman, another like a confessor, and yet a third like an inquisitive traveller.
— from The Dawn of Day by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - As Gibbon has remarked, “The place might be unknown if some broken arches of an aqueduct did not guide the footsteps of the inquisitive traveller.”
— from The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny - But, leaving that for the moment, how much did you part with, he queried, if I am not too inquisitive?
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - “You are too inquisitive,” remarked Evgenie Pavlovitch.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky