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Literary notes about indifferently (AI summary)

The word "indifferently" is deployed in literature to convey a sense of casual detachment or lack of passionate engagement in both action and speech. In works of fiction, characters often speak or act indifferently to suggest nonchalance or dismissal—for instance, a character’s muted response may signal emotional reserve or subtle irony (e.g. [1], [2], [3]). At times, it also appears in more descriptive passages where actions or natural phenomena are rendered with a sense of impartiality or routine occurrence, as when certain behaviors, elements, or supplies are handled without special care (e.g. [4], [5], [6]). In scholarly and rhetorical contexts, it is used to denote interchangeable uses or undifferentiated applications, underscoring an absence of strict distinction in usage (e.g. [7], [8], [9]). Overall, this modest adverb encapsulates a wide spectrum of attitudes, ranging from casual indifference in everyday dialogue to an analytical statement of equivalence in more formal or theoretical discourse (e.g. [10], [11]).
  1. “That’s all right,” I said, indifferently.
    — from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
  2. I said, as quietly and indifferently as I could.
    — from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
  3. "If you wish," she answered indifferently.
    — from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy
  4. The army was but indifferently supplied with transportation.
    — from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. Grant
  5. The train rushed past me with a roar and indifferently cast the glow of its red lights upon me.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  6. In the article of Mahomet, Bayle has shown how indifferently wit and philosophy supply the absence of genuine information.
    — from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
  7. In fact, these are all more or less interchangeable terms, members of the same family calling themselves indifferently Erādi or Tirumalpād.
    — from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7 by Edgar Thurston
  8. But these two complements are not always separated by a sharp line, and the same dative may sometimes be referred indifferently to either head.
    — from A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges by George Martin Lane
  9. That the words love and regard (amor and dilectio) are in Scripture used indifferently of good and evil affection.
    — from The City of God, Volume II by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine
  10. This is how the Greeks understood the word "tyrant": they applied it indifferently to good and bad princes whose authority was not legitimate.
    — from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  11. He says indifferently and alike How are you friend?
    — from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

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