Literary notes about Irreproachable (AI summary)
The term "irreproachable" has been a favored descriptor in literature, used to signal not only faultless conduct and morality but also an overall air of unimpeachable quality in behavior, appearance, or even written style. In some works, such as Stendhal’s and Ibsen’s, it qualifies a character’s actions as being beyond reproach, whether it is a husband's conduct or years of dutiful service ([1], [2], [3], [4]). Alexandre Dumas and his collaborators extended this usage by applying it to both physical presentation and internal character traits—as in impeccable costume or an irreproachable name—highlighting its role in establishing virtue, honor, and the very essence of aristocratic or heroic idealism ([5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10]). Meanwhile, in other texts it defines moral rectitude or even the clear, precise quality of orthography ([11]), and occasionally, it is employed to contrast with less satisfactory qualities ([12]). In all, whether describing personal honor, aesthetic perfection, or faultless duty, "irreproachable" serves as a linguistic hallmark of the highest standard in moral and practical excellence across a variety of literary contexts ([13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24]).
- But that choice was constant; and I have heard it said that the French were a shoal, on which foundered many a virtue till then irreproachable."
— from On Love by Stendhal - The jury should first declare that the husband's conduct had been irreproachable.
— from On Love by Stendhal - Eight years of irreproachable duty!
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - For the last two years his conduct has been irreproachable.
— from Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen - How were you to blame in that affair?” “Listen—when one bears an irreproachable name, as I do, one is rather sensitive.”
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - “You will see,” continued Aramis, “that it breathes irreproachable passion.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - At this instant M. de Treville entered, cool, polite, and in irreproachable costume.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - This glove, wherever it had not touched the muddy ground, was of irreproachable odor.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - “The queen is my enemy, but is not yours, sire; on the contrary, she is a devoted, submissive, and irreproachable wife.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - And at these words, the Musketeer, in irreproachable costume, belted as usual, with a tolerably firm step, entered the cabinet.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - The writing was, in reality, charming, and the orthography irreproachable.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - The poetry is not irreproachable.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - Her morals and Anthony's were irreproachable.
— from The Gay Cockade by Temple Bailey - Soon after he married a lady of birth and fortune, to whom, I have heard he proved an irreproachable husband.
— from Memoirs of Fanny Hill by John Cleland - It must be remembered, however, that such writers (including the irreproachable Plutarch) were advocates of vegetarianism.
— from Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome by Apicius - Perfectly irreproachable, I assure you!
— from Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen - “Yes; through means of the most irreproachable kind—through the most honourable of methods.”
— from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol - intachable irreproachable, faultless.
— from Doña Perfecta by Benito Pérez Galdós - And that’s their gratitude for your faithful, irreproachable service!”
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - Mr. Arnold followed with an address which even Miss Cornelia had to confess was irreproachable in taste and subject-matter.
— from Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery - Juan’s excellent service and irreproachable conduct won the good will of his master, who adopted him as his son.
— from Filipino Popular Tales - Do you know that he’s the honestest and faithfullest fellow that ever lived, and that he has an irreproachable good name?
— from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens - He would then produce his irreproachable alibi—and, hey presto, he was safe for life!”
— from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie - He was dead—the head of a high tribunal, the upright magistrate whose irreproachable life was a proverb in all the courts of France.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant