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Literary notes about Surmise (AI summary)

Authors frequently employ "surmise" to evoke a feeling of cautious inference or educated guesswork, capturing moments when characters or narrators must piece together incomplete evidence. In many works, the term underscores the tension between certainty and uncertainty, as a character's suspicions gradually crystallize into conclusions—as when an intuition is ultimately confirmed [1] or when conjecture sets the stage for further revelation [2]. Moreover, its use in dialogue and reflective narrative—as in instances where subtle cues hint at hidden truths [3]—enhances the thematic interplay between observable facts and the mysteries that propel the narrative forward [4].
  1. I then advanced timidly forward, and in another moment I saw that my surmise was correct.
    — from Erewhon; Or, Over the Range by Samuel Butler
  2. I’ve told you all I know myself now, for the rest is mere surmise and conjecture.
    — from A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
  3. Say not a word of it; hear nothing, surmise nothing, whisper nothing till I write again.
    — from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
  4. Her emotions rose, fell, undulated, filled her with wild surmise at their suddenness; and so passed Lucetta's experiences of that day.
    — from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

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