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Literary notes about snapped (AI summary)

The word "snapped" is deployed with remarkable versatility, often signifying an abrupt, decisive action or reaction. It is used to capture everything from a sharp verbal retort—as when a character cuts off an interlocutor with a brisk, dismissive tone ([1], [2], [3])—to a sudden physical break such as a twig or cable yielding under tension ([4], [5], [6], [7]). At times, it denotes the instant when nerves or resolve give way ([8], [9], [10]), while in other contexts it vividly paints a picture of swift movement, whether an animal rapidly seizing a morsel ([11], [12]) or a moment of transformation where bonds are broken irreparably ([13], [14]). In each usage, "snapped" injects the narrative with immediacy and dynamism, enhancing both the physical and emotional landscapes of the text.
  1. “Then you can't get anything here,” snapped the other.
    — from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
  2. 'Catch 'im,' he snapped, with a bloodshot widening of his eyes and a flash of sharp teeth—'catch 'im. Give 'im to us.'
    — from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
  3. I believe in democracy—” “No, you don’t,” she snapped.
    — from A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
  4. The small twigs snapped and fell about me in showers.
    — from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
  5. In these the ship was tossed about like a ball, until finally the cable snapped.
    — from Vitus Bering: the Discoverer of Bering Strait by Peter Lauridsen
  6. One hinge snapped, then the other, and down came the door with a crash.
    — from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
  7. At that place the mooring-rope snapped and we lost an anchor.
    — from A Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama 1497-1499
  8. Miss Polly's nerves had snapped at last.
    — from Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
  9. ‘I don’t want your help,’ she snapped; ‘I can get them for myself.’
    — from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
  10. “You know nothing about it,” she snapped irritably.
    — from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  11. Desire flung him the oat cake, which the great dog instantly snapped up, and the young Prince passed quietly on.
    — from The Red Fairy Book
  12. Swiftly running across the field came a fox, who, in an instant, had snapped up poor little Tom.
    — from Grimm's Fairy Stories by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
  13. 98 99 100 PART IV 101 (16) My Return The chains of the rigorous regime which had bound me snapped for good when I set out from home.
    — from My Reminiscences by Rabindranath Tagore
  14. At this thought, all the bonds were snapped which bound her to the world.
    — from The Hungry Stones, and Other Stories by Rabindranath Tagore

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