Literary notes about unsuitable (AI summary)
The term "unsuitable" in literature is employed to signal a lack of proper fit or harmony between elements, whether in ideas, relationships, or settings. In one work, it defines a discord in music, where a melody becomes wrong when paired with unsuitable harmony [1], while in another, it describes how certain goods are deemed unfit for divine offerings [2]. The word spans contexts, from social commentary—illustrating a character’s unfitness as a partner or friend [3, 4, 5, 6]—to pragmatic assessments of location or climate, as when a ground is found unsuitable for offices or specific agricultural pursuits [7, 8, 9]. It also critiques personal choices, as seen in commentary on friendships and marriages deemed unsuitable [10, 11, 12, 13]. Even in technical and aesthetic debates, unsuitable marks a standard too harsh to meet [14, 15]. This diversity of usage underscores the term’s adaptability in conveying a sense of misalignment or inappropriateness across a broad spectrum of literary themes.
- Now every melody is right when it has suitable harmony and rhythm, and wrong when unsuitable.
— from Laws by Plato - Goods Unsuitable as Offerings to God.—There are certain goods, however, that should not be used as offerings to God.
— from Moral Theology
A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities by Charles J. (Charles Jerome) Callan - If such be among his known characteristics, the evidence is decidedly unfavorable, making him unsuitable as a social companion of the country girl.
— from Farm Boys and Girls by William A. (William Arch) McKeever - It was a long time before she became at all reconciled to the idea of so unsuitable a match.
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - She would never make an unsuitable friend!"
— from A True Friend: A Novel by Adeline Sergeant - "I am not aware that I have made any unsuitable friendships," said Margaret, with a rather proud look in her hazel eyes.
— from A True Friend: A Novel by Adeline Sergeant - In Uruguay the climate is altogether unsuitable for it.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - Eventually arabica was found unsuitable to the soil and climate, and experiments were begun with robusta and other hardier types.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - They indeed seized and encamped upon a piece of rising ground which commanded the enemy; but it was unsuitable to themselves.
— from The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Polybius - It has certainly been, from beginning to end, an unsuitable and disastrous friendship."
— from A True Friend: A Novel by Adeline Sergeant - CHAPTER I. AN UNSUITABLE FRIENDSHIP CHAPTER II.
— from A True Friend: A Novel by Adeline Sergeant - I begin to agree with Miss Polehampton—it was a most unsuitable friendship."
— from A True Friend: A Novel by Adeline Sergeant - She abused him to her heart’s content, and told him he must be a great fool to give her a dress which he considered unsuitable to her.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - I regret that its length renders it unsuitable for the purposes of this lecture.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - If I am not misinformed, pedantry consists in the use of words unsuitable to the time, place, and company.
— from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge