Literary notes about intimidate (AI summary)
Across literature, the term "intimidate" is employed in diverse, nuanced ways to represent both overt and subtle displays of power. In some works, it denotes a physical challenge or threat—as when a youthful swordsman hopes to intimidate his foe [1] or when a group’s actions are intended to intimidate the uncharitable into giving alms [2]. In other texts, it reflects the exertion of psychological or social pressure, such as the energetic class whose endeavors intimidate a pale scholar [3] or political measures used to silence dissent, like efforts to intimidate voters [4]. Authors also use the term in more abstract or symbolic settings: Verne’s indomitable Nautilus is impervious, not overwhelmed by nature, which contrasts with instances where intimidation is a deliberate tool of coercion or humiliation [5, 6]. This variety of contexts—from physical action to metaphoric challenge—illustrates how "intimidate" is a flexible literary device that explores interactions of power, fear, and resistance [7, 8].
- In an instant his sword glittered in his hand, and he sprang upon his adversary, whom, thanks to his great youthfulness, he hoped to intimidate.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Should this be refused, they utter the most terrible curse, and, in this manner, eventually intimidate the uncharitable into giving them alms.”
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7 by Edgar Thurston - The society of the energetic class, in their friendly and festive meetings, is full of courage, and of attempts, which intimidate the pale scholar.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson - Half-drunken white roughs murder them at the polls, or intimidate them so that they do not vote.
— from The Red Record by Ida B. Wells-Barnett - But what were mere winds to this Nautilus , which no storms could intimidate!
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - Its function is to intimidate by humiliating.
— from Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson - You are quite wrong, excellency, if you think that your presence will intimidate them; nothing intimidates them.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - But, in such a cause, his anger, though it must shock, could not intimidate Henry, who was sustained in his purpose by a conviction of its justice.
— from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
