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Literary notes about impregnable (AI summary)

The word "impregnable" is employed across literary works to evoke images of unassailable strength, whether referring to physical fortresses or the steadfastness of character and ideas. In historical and adventure narratives, it often designates a stronghold virtually impossible to penetrate—for instance, a city or rampart described as impregnable [1] or majestic fortifications crafted to resist any assault [2, 3]. In a more abstract sense, the term extends to personal resolve and moral fibre, illustrating an inner domain or virtue that remains untouched by external threats [4, 5, 6]. At times, it even frames societal or institutional constructs as impervious to change or criticism [7, 8], thereby reinforcing its power as both a literal and metaphorical marker of ultimate defense.
  1. TN: added em dash Porto Bello is still said to be impregnable, and it is reported the Dutch have declared war against us.
    — from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge
  2. And the ramparts, heaped with stones, were made impregnable by means of catapults.
    — from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1
  3. the Towrs of Heav’n are fill’d With Armed watch, that render all access Impregnable; oft on the bordering
    — from Paradise Lost by John Milton
  4. I did not want to know her long before recognizing that she was absolutely impregnable.
    — from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova
  5. She sat close and impregnable with the child.
    — from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence
  6. One must prepare one’s self a fortress in one’s own impregnable thoughts.
    — from The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius
  7. The dream of humanity, the vaunted Union we thought so strong, so impregnable—lo! it seems already smash'd like a china plate.
    — from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman
  8. The barriers which at first seemed impregnable in the shape of custom and prejudice have been undermined and their fall is certain.
    — from Reform and Politics Part 2 from The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume VII by John Greenleaf Whittier

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