Literary notes about Nondescript (AI summary)
The word "nondescript" in literature is often employed to evoke a sense of ordinariness or ambiguity, lending an air of subtle complexity to the narrative. In some instances, it characterizes natural phenomena or objects, as seen when Hardy refers to the unremarkable stars [1] or when Dudeney describes geometrical figures lacking unique features [2]. It can also convey an unsettling atmosphere, such as the indistinct noises in an old house during a storm [3] or the looming, unidentified presence in Stevenson’s adventure [4]. Meanwhile, authors like William James [5] and Byron [6] use it to critique abstract ideas or define existential states, while Conrad [7], Chekhov [8], and Joyce [9] apply the term to physical descriptions, whether detailing threadbare clothing or enigmatic individuals. Thus, "nondescript" serves as a versatile literary tool, suggesting vagueness, anonymity, or an inherent lack of defining character depending on its contextual application.
- A few small nondescript stars were appearing elsewhere.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy - It contains three hundred and twenty-three Tangram designs, mostly nondescript geometrical figures, to be constructed from the seven pieces.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney - It was a stormy, windy night, such as raises whole squadrons of nondescript noises in rickety old houses.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe - I was now, it seemed, cut off upon both sides; behind me the murderers, before me this lurking nondescript.
— from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - Such a conception is of course too vague and nondescript to satisfy us.
— from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking by William James - O thou 'teterrima causa' of all 'belli'- Thou gate of life and death—thou nondescript!
— from Don Juan by Baron George Gordon Byron Byron - His clothes, of a nondescript brown mixture, were threadbare and marked with stains, dusty in the folds, with ragged button-holes.
— from The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale by Joseph Conrad - " Old Musatov took a nondescript rag out of his pocket and wiped his shaven, battered face with it.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - Then they trot you out some kind of a nondescript, wouldn’t know what to call her.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce