Literary notes about Insignificant (AI summary)
Writers employ "insignificant" to temper or undermine the importance of subjects ranging from the minutiae of grammar to the trivial gestures of human behavior. In some works, it is used to caution against dismissing the fundamental aspects of learning or identity, as when the rudiments of grammar are not to be treated as insignificant ([1]), or when a seemingly minor personal detail is highlighted to evoke self-reflection ([2], [3]). It also functions as a tool for drawing contrasts: a character’s smallness is weighed against the vastness of the universe ([4]), while minute details accumulate to affect sociological insights ([5]). This versatility in usage enriches the text by inviting readers to reconsider what may initially appear trivial.
- 1, 4, 6, let no man look down on the rudiments of grammar fancying them insignificant .
— from A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges by George Martin Lane - I must apologise to the reader for devoting a few words here to this insignificant person.
— from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - It made me feel dreadfully insignificant.
— from Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery - Man, indeed, in any condition, from his small numbers, makes but an insignificant figure in these vast solitudes.
— from The King James Version of the Bible - The coal itself, even in Great Britain and Belgium, where it is most abundant, constitutes but an insignificant portion of the whole mass.
— from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass
