Literary notes about consequential (AI summary)
The word "consequential" is employed with remarkable versatility in literature, often evoking a sense of prominence or significance. Authors use it to characterize individuals or actions that are notable in stature or influence—as when a character is described as inherently important or self-important ([1], [2], [3], [4], [5])—while it is also applied to denote essential outcomes or events, particularly in legal or formal contexts ([6], [7], [8], [9]). At times, the adjective underscores a manner of behavior or attitude, suggesting a dignified, imposing, or even pompous quality in a character’s demeanor ([10], [11], [12], [13], [14]). In other instances, it highlights a logical progression or consequential nature in discourse, demonstrating its role as a bridge between ideas and their subsequent effects ([15], [16], [17]). This multifaceted usage underlines the term’s capacity to encapsulate both character and consequence in literary narratives.
- He was a rather consequential person, and it was evident 93 to the girl that he resented being summoned by a gesture.
— from Masters of the Wheat-Lands by Harold Bindloss - Ferdinand du Tillet was now a consequential personage, when Lucien de Rubempre was making his start in Paris (1821).
— from Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A — Z by Cerfberr and Christophe - (22) He is very consequential, and his self-conceit is unbounded, but he is not presumptuous.
— from The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto: Grammar & Commentary by George Cox - Because he’s a proud, haughty, consequential, turned-up-nosed peacock.’
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - Like almost all boys, I was either timid or consequential with strangers, but I felt with this man as if I had known him for ages.
— from A Desperate Character and Other Stories by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev - INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
— from The Imitation of Christ by à Kempis Thomas - “He who has sworn to keep a secret is not obliged to keep his oath, if any consequential injury to him or to others is thereby caused.”
— from Fifty Years in the Church of Rome by Charles Paschal Telesphore Chiniquy - BLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
— from Sexual Neuroses by J. T. (James Tyler) Kent - These things are all essential And highly consequential.
— from A Book for All Readers An Aid to the Collection, Use, and Preservation of Books and the Formation of Public and Private Libraries by Ainsworth Rand Spofford - “We’re hunting in couples again, doctor, you see,” said Jones, in his consequential way.
— from Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - The lad took three draws of his pipe in a consequential way before answering.
— from Lochinvar: A Novel by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett - A shade of anxiety crossed Lloyd's face, and he looked appealingly at his counsel, who nodded with a consequential smack of the lips.
— from Through the Wall by Cleveland Moffett - ‘No matter—you must come; I shall allow of no excuses,’ replied the consequential little gentleman.
— from Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë - Fully aware of the importance of his office, he was consequential in manner, and his voice, when he chose to exert it, was perfectly stentorian.
— from The Manchester Rebels of the Fatal '45 by William Harrison Ainsworth - The development of forms was less logical and consequential, and less uniform in the different provinces, than in those western lands.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - It seemed to him that there must be something worth looking at, in the next room; Dawson had such a consequential, mysterious air.
— from Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett - It is, on the contrary, so worded as to give a consequential meaning to the word " that ."
— from The Principles of Masonic Law by Albert Gallatin Mackey
