Literary notes about effortful (AI summary)
In literature, "effortful" is employed to evoke a sense of deliberate exertion—be it physical, emotional, or mental. Authors use the term to signal actions or states that require significant strain or concentration, as when a character leans in to catch a faint, effortful mumble ([1]) or musters an effortful smile in uncertainty ([2]). The word often underscores the struggle inherent in physical actions, such as a tongue performing an effortful motion ([3]) or movements becoming awkward and convulsive under strain ([4]). It is also used to highlight the labor involved in intellectual endeavors, like the conscious, effortful processes of introspection and sensing ([5], [6]), or even the painstaking formation of handwritten letters ([7]). Overall, "effortful" enriches the narrative by drawing attention to the arduous, often painstaking, nature of both bodily and cognitive engagements.
- Pape leaned close enough to grasp part of the effortful mumble.
— from Lonesome Town by E. S. (Ethel Smith) Dorrance - "It's rather less than your customary one, I'm afraid," said the Tyro, with an effortful smile.
— from Little Miss Grouch A Narrative Based on the Log of Alexander Forsyth Smith's Maiden Transatlantic Voyage by Samuel Hopkins Adams - Doctor Hoff blinked more rapidly and moistened his lips with an effortful tongue.
— from Average Jones by Samuel Hopkins Adams - But barely had she entered the tinted atmosphere when her movements became awkward and convulsive, effortful and excited.
— from The Red Dust by Murray Leinster - Introspection, like sensation, perception, ideation, is attention only so far as it is effortful.
— from Studies in the Evolutionary Psychology of Feeling by Hiram Miner Stanley - Thus in directed and effortful sensing activity economy means the ratio of efficiency, the ratio of the amount of painful effort to desired result.
— from Studies in the Evolutionary Psychology of Feeling by Hiram Miner Stanley - The word was, as Average Jones had said, in a strained, effortful handwriting, and each letter stood distinct.
— from Average Jones by Samuel Hopkins Adams
