Literary notes about combine (AI summary)
Writers employ "combine" in a rich variety of ways, using it to illustrate both physical and metaphorical unions. It is often used to describe material processes—as in the merging of elements to form compounds or mixtures, where distinct substances, colors, or concepts join to create something new [1][2][3]. At times the word captures the social or emotional aggregation of disparate elements, whether it’s the coming together of individuals whose interactions produce complex feelings or the alignment of ideas to yield a unified thought [4][5][6]. In other instances, "combine" conveys the art of synthesis in intellectual and creative endeavors, uniting separate notions or arguments into a coherent whole [7][8][9]. The term also serves as a bridge, linking diverse components across the scientific, social, and poetic realms, while emphasizing the dynamic fluidity with which isolated parts can enhance or transform the larger entity they constitute [10][11][12]. This multiplicity of functions not only demonstrates the versatility of "combine" but also reflects its enduring power to evoke imagery of both union and transformation in literature.
- But are there no combustible bodies whose attraction for oxygen is so strong, that they will combine with it, without the application of heat?
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Where two elements combine to form a compound, heat is almost always evolved, and the amount evolved serves as a measure of the affinity.
— from The New Gresham Encyclopedia. A to Amide by Various - Each time the force works in a different way; each time the constituent colors combine into a different spectacle.
— from What's Wrong with the World by G. K. Chesterton - Relatives, friends, and strangers all combine to annoy me.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - If we were neither of us cowards, we might combine to discharge it.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - When, now, two of these movements—woman and color—combine in one, the combination has deep meaning.
— from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. Du Bois - But I have thought fit to combine in a single extract, which may seem long, what he has set down in many short quotations.
— from The City of God, Volume II by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine - But with training and experience the faculties gather up the stray notes and combine them into a full, harmonious whole.
— from The World I Live In by Helen Keller - The problem, I say, is to combine the two, so as not to ignore either.
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - Work hath wondrous virtue, Where such aids combine.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki - Plato himself tells us that he does not know in what proportions they combine, and he is of opinion that such knowledge is granted to the gods only.
— from Timaeus by Plato - It is not difficult to combine the Intuitional and Utilitarian methods into one; but can we reconcile Egoistic and Universalistic Hedonism?
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick
