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Literary notes about audacious (AI summary)

In literature, "audacious" emerges as a versatile descriptor, one that spans the gamut from valorous daring to brazen insolence. It is frequently employed to characterize individuals whose boldness defies societal expectations, as when a character's visionary, even disruptive, ideas seize their mind [1] or when a figure’s rebellious behavior is depicted through cheeky pranks or insolent remarks [2, 3]. At times, the term encapsulates an almost hallowed defiance against authority, imbuing narratives with a tension that oscillates between admirable bravery and reckless presumption [4, 5, 6]. In this manner, authors have used "audacious" not simply as a term of praise but as a nuanced qualifier that enhances character and propels conflict, leaving readers to navigate its layered implications [7, 8, 9].
  1. This audacious idea took such a hold on me that it gave me no peace.
    — from Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  2. "I wouldn't be guilty of the audacious insolence of keeping a lady of the house waiting all this time for any earthly consideration.
    — from Bleak House by Charles Dickens
  3. They had a gleeful anticipation that the prisoner would play some audacious pranks upon the judge.
    — from The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar by Maurice Leblanc
  4. I rejoice in my spine, as in the firm audacious staff of that flag which I fling half out to the world.
    — from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville
  5. What such an audacious look of well-being, under august displeasure could mean she could not understand.
    — from A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  6. He was intent on an audacious, immitigable, and supernatural revenge.
    — from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville
  7. Τολμητής, οῦ, ὁ, ( τολμάω ) one who is bold; in a bad sense, a presumptuous, audacious person, 2 Pe. 2.10.
    — from A Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament by William Greenfield
  8. To think that Apicius should have survived in the North of Europe, far removed from his native soil, is a rather audacious suggestion.
    — from Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome by Apicius
  9. Can anything be more irrational or audacious?
    — from Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott Abbott

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