Literary notes about unremarkable (AI summary)
The term "unremarkable" in literature often conveys a sense of ordinary, mundane, or unexceptional qualities, whether describing a person's appearance, a building’s detail, or even the overall flow of life. Authors use it to emphasize the inherent normalcy of a subject, as when a character or object is depicted as blending into the background of common experience ([1], [2], [3]). At times, the word is deployed with a touch of irony or unexpected depth, such as when noting that seemingly minor details are laden with peculiar intensity ([4]), or when contrasting an unremarkable exterior with a striking inner quality ([5], [6]). This dual use both underscores the simplicity of everyday life and sometimes hints at a hidden significance within the mundane ([7], [8]).
- But as it was, she gave no thought to her appearance, and looked unremarkable and ordinary and lower middle-class.
— from The Career of Katherine Bush by Elinor Glyn - In itself the house is unremarkable; a dull, brown rectangle with a faintly mildewed air about the cornices.
— from Our Square and the People in It by Samuel Hopkins Adams - She was a thoroughly unremarkable looking girl, but had a certain willowy grace about her, and could put herself into graceful poses.
— from Turquoise and Ruby by L. T. Meade - These details, unremarkable in themselves, were charged with a peculiar intensity.
— from Wild Oranges by Joseph Hergesheimer - How could he ever have dignified this remarkably unremarkable little man with his pompous manner into a mysterious and possibly hostile force.
— from Who? by Elizabeth Kent - But as he moved deliberately by, his faded eyes took in every detail of Henry's not unremarkable personal appearance.
— from Henry Is Twenty: A Further Episodic History of Henry Calverly, 3rd by Samuel Merwin - The landscape seen from the moving bus was unremarkable but still the beauty that was there dazed him into self-reflections.
— from Tokyo to Tijuana: Gabriele Departing America by Steven David Justin Sills - And so all things went on serenely, and the years went by, gentle, unremarkable, tranquil years.
— from Hester: A Story of Contemporary Life, Volume 1 (of 3) by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant