Literary notes about Readily (AI summary)
The adverb "readily" has been used in literature to express a sense of immediacy or ease across a wide range of contexts. In some works, it underlines swift emotional responses or sensitivity—for example, a character whose soul is "readily moved" [1] or one who "readily melted into tears" [2]—while in others it denotes prompt intellectual or physical compliance, as when someone "readily acceded" to a request [3] or an object "readily yields" under pressure [4]. Authors also employ the term to suggest natural or inherent tendencies, such as when actions are performed without hesitation [5, 6, 7] or when processes occur effortlessly in nature or logic [8, 9]. In this way, "readily" serves as a versatile adverb that captures both the immediacy of human emotion and the inherent ease of natural or rational phenomena, enriching narrative descriptions throughout literature [10, 11, 12].
- Virginie, whose plebeian soul was readily moved, was weeping copiously amid her cabbages, carrots and onions.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - At the pathetic passages of his narrative he readily melted into tears.
— from Twice-told tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne - He most readily acceded to my request for enlightenment, and suggested that we should read together the Gospel of St. John.
— from Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ by Aaron Bernstein - We should remember that the skull at this early age is cartilaginous and flexible, so that it readily yields to muscular action.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - Consequently, he sent a messenger to the Persian to say that he desired an interview with him; to which the other readily consented.
— from Anabasis by Xenophon - People readily made our acquaintance and Ariadne had great social success everywhere.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - He readily wrote out the necessary permit.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - It is readily solved by the use of continued fractions.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney - These bases may be favorable in some circumstances, but are equally unfavorable in others, as may be readily seen from what precedes.
— from The Art of War by baron de Antoine Henri Jomini - “Readily; I have solved others of an abstruseness ten thousand times greater.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1 by Edgar Allan Poe - She could not think the Tilneys had acted quite well by her, in so readily giving up their engagement, without sending her any message of excuse.
— from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen - Force of character is one of the charms which most readily seduces the truly feminine heart.
— from On Love by Stendhal