Literary notes about truncated (AI summary)
The term "truncated" is deployed in literature to depict an abrupt ending, a deliberate shortening, or a physical form that has been pared down or modified by the removal of one end. In narratives, it can refer to text that is cut off, such as a sentence that ends unexpectedly [1] or a work that has been made scarce by loss [2]. In descriptive passages, authors frequently employ "truncated" to characterize shapes—ranging from pyramidal forms [3] and conical structures [4] to architectural features like columns and summits [5, 6]—thereby evoking images of incomplete, sharply defined terminations. This versatility in usage underscores both a literal sense—in the detailing of physical attributes—and a metaphorical one, where ideas or creative works may appear curtailed.
- Chapter 1 paragraph 9 : deleted fullstop after "selfishness——" — the sentence is truncated, it does not end.
— from Headlong Hall by Thomas Love Peacock - For Dickens had hold of one great truth, the neglect of which has, as it were, truncated and made meagre the work of many brilliant modern novelists.
— from Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton - The towers of truncated pyramidal form on either side of the gateways of Egyptian temples.
— from History of Ancient Art by Franz von Reber - The truncated conical crater summit of the diminutive volcano emitted a vertical and serpentine fume redolent of aromatic oriental incense.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - When the procession arrives at the place, the urn is drawn up an inclined plane, and placed upon the top of the truncated platform already described.
— from Siam: Its Government, Manners, Customs, &c. by N. A. (Noah A.) McDonald - In the distance, at the left, could be seen the great truncated summits of the volcanoes.
— from Mont Oriol; or, A Romance of Auvergne: A Novel by Guy de Maupassant
