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not explicit or direct in addressing a point, slanted in some way
“ When I ask him what he means, his answer is somewhat oblique”(96). |
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in a way that is extremely delicate and light, seeming too perfect for this world
“She is, to start with, an ethereally pale and thin and pretty woman who looks fragile but whose voice is silvery and strong”(103). |
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designed to cause fired, to stir up conflict and bad feelings
“ ‘Drug dealers aren’t the only people killing children,’ she remarks, the sort of statement one
hears often in the South Bronx and which sometimes causes great offense among the affluent because it speaks so clearly of incendiary feelings of which most of us would just as soon not hear”(109). |
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of or relating to the viscera (intestines), relating to deep inward feelings, rather than to the intellect
“His distrust of the mayor is visceral, intense”(112). |
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to be shocked or surprised
“Still, the note of self-congratulation in her voice takes one aback”(114). |
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attempting to impress by pretending greater importance, talent, culture, etc.
“ ‘I thought that was a wonderfully pretentious thing to say’”(118). |
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died from the effects of a disease or injury, failed to resist some negative temptation
“Her husband had long since succumbed to drugs and alcohol and later died in the hospital of AIDS and of cirrhosis of the liver”(119). |
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having mixed or contradictory feelings and ideas about something or someone
“The mention of Calderon’s name, I find, still sets off complicated and ambivalent reactions”(120). |
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