Literary notes about Obviously (AI summary)
In literature, the word "obviously" functions as a succinct cue signaling that what follows is meant to be accepted as self-evident or incontrovertible. Writers use it to emphasize natural phenomena, character traits, or social realities in a way that requires little elaboration—suggesting, for instance, that a frozen basin or a character’s behavior needs no further explanation [1, 2]. At times, its use can also add a note of irony or subtle commentary, as when a seemingly clear fact is actually loaded with complexity or even contradiction [3, 4]. This dual role as both a tool of clarity and a vehicle for understated critique makes "obviously" an intriguing element in the narrative and argumentative strategies of many authors.
- Obviously this southernmost basin froze over during its six–month winter and became utterly inaccessible.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - Von Lembke too got up and he too looked pleasant, obviously affected by the last words.
— from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - In fact, the notion of force obviously includes many spiritual elements which could only have been taken from our psychic life.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim - But whether true or false, idealism is not to be dismissed as obviously absurd.
— from The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
