Literary notes about Outrageous (AI summary)
In literature, “outrageous” serves as a multifaceted descriptor, often used to heighten the impact of moral transgressions, corrupt behavior, or even chaotic energy. Authors such as Dickens and Twain deploy the term to illustrate not only scandalous conduct but also the extremes of human emotion and societal injustice [1, 2, 3]. Meanwhile, its use spans from invoking intense physical or emotional reactions—be it the depiction of brutal punishment or passionate revolt [4, 5]—to critiquing absurd societal norms or elaborate deceptions [6, 7, 8]. With such versatility, “outrageous” enriches language by marking moments of exceptional deviation from conventional expectations, inviting readers to both question and reflect upon the behaviors and conditions presented [9, 10].
- However, he had thought proper to do otherwise, and Miss Squeers was outrageous.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - King Henry is dead; Stephen, that bold and outrageous person, comes flying over from Normandy to steal the throne from Henry's daughter.
— from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain - A more outrageous person I never did see.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - The poor woman lived in continual fear, in a ceaseless trembling of body and soul, in everlasting expectation of outrageous thrashings.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - He was outrageous in his laughter, and still more so in his wrath, for then he foamed at the mouth, and discharged from his nostrils.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius - What punishment, then, shall be sufficient when the gods are the objects of so wicked and outrageous an injustice?
— from The City of God, Volume I by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine - It is a most outrageous state of things.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain - O, be remember'd, no outrageous thing From vassal actors can he wip'd away; Then kings' misdeeds cannot be hid in clay.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - Now, out of spite, he will come out with something so outrageous that even Lizabetha Prokofievna will not be able to stand it.”
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - When he saw Eumaeus and Ulysses he reviled them with outrageous and unseemly language, which made Ulysses very angry.
— from The Odyssey by Homer
