Literary notes about intimation (AI summary)
In literature, the term "intimation" is often employed as a subtle suggestion or hint that conveys deeper, sometimes unspoken, meanings. Writers use it to signal forthcoming revelations or to imbue ordinary details with symbolic significance, as when a seemingly trivial cue in nature or conversation hints at larger emotional or narrative shifts ([1], [2]). It can denote an understated communication of inner sentiment or a covert message that invites the reader to read between the lines, whether indicating an unvoiced emotion ([3]) or a quiet precursor to dramatic developments ([4], [5]). This layered usage, ranging from classical rhetorical contexts to modern narrative foreshadowing, enriches the text by allowing implications to resonate beyond the explicit words on the page ([6], [7]).
- It was this intimation which led me to identify the tortoise as a male symbol.
— from Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism by Thomas Inman and M.R.C.S.E. John Newton - " I was so completely "taken aback" by this sudden intimation, that for a moment I could make no reply.
— from Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana - A secret intimation of anger or contempt shews that we still have some consideration for the person, and avoid the directly abusing him.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume - When the invitation came to me, there was not one word of intimation as to what I should say or as to what I should omit.
— from Up from Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington - There was scarcely an intimation of movement from the pit.
— from The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells - inkling, suggestion, hint, intimation, notion, impression; bare supposition, vague supposition, loose supposition, loose suggestion.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget - It may be mentioned here, that the infinitive of intimation is sometimes used from Sallust on in relative clauses and with cum , when .
— from A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges by George Martin Lane
