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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.
  1. Now every melody is right when it has suitable harmony and rhythm, and wrong when unsuitable.
    — from Laws by Plato
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. She would never make an unsuitable friend!"
    — from A True Friend: A Novel by Adeline Sergeant
  6. "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
  7. In Uruguay the climate is altogether unsuitable for it.
    — from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers
  8. 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
  9. 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
  10. It has certainly been, from beginning to end, an unsuitable and disastrous friendship."
    — from A True Friend: A Novel by Adeline Sergeant
  11. CHAPTER I. AN UNSUITABLE FRIENDSHIP CHAPTER II.
    — from A True Friend: A Novel by Adeline Sergeant
  12. I begin to agree with Miss Polehampton—it was a most unsuitable friendship."
    — from A True Friend: A Novel by Adeline Sergeant
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. 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

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