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FIFTEEN THOUSAND USEFUL PHRASES BY GRENVILLE KLEISER- SECTION XI MISCELLANEOUS PHRASES- PART -2

 I


I adjured him      [adjured = command or enjoin solemnly, as under oath]


I am not without a lurking suspicion


I bemoaned my unlucky fate


I could almost allege it as a supreme example


I have somewhat overshot the mark


I lost myself in a reverie of gratitude


I made bold to retort


I must hazard the story


I was extremely perplexed


I will permit myself the liberty of saying


I would fain believe                       [fain = happily; gladly]


Illuminate with sinister effect


Immediate and effectual steps


Immense capacity for ceaseless progress


Immunity from criticism and control


Impartial and exacting judgment


Impatience of despotic influence


Impelled by strong conviction


Imperiled in a restless age


Imperious in its demands            [imperious = arrogantly domineering]


Impotent outbreaks of unreasoning rage


Impromptu parades of noisy patriotism


In a diversity of application


In a fever of apprehension


In a frenzy of fussy excitement


In a frowning abstraction


In a great and fruitful way


In a high degree culpable


In a kind of confused astonishment


In a most commendable fashion


In a most impressive vein


In a position of undisputed supremacy


In a rapture of imagined ecstasy


In a secret and surreptitious way

                 [surreptitious = done by clandestine or stealthy means]


In a spirit of friendliness and conciliation


In a state of mulish reluctance      [mulish = stubborn and intractable]


In a state of nervous exacerbation


In a state of virtuous complacency


In a tone of uneasy interrogation


In a transport of ambitious vanity


In a whirlwind of feeling and memory


In accents embarrassed and hesitating


In alliance with steady clearness of intellect


In amazed ejaculation


In an eminent and unique sense


In an eminent degree


In deference to a unanimous sentiment


In extenuation of the past


In high good humor


In his customary sententious fashion

                               [sententious = terse and energetic; pithy]


In its most odious and intolerable shape


In language terse yet familiar


In moments of the most imminent peril


In quite incredible confusion


In seasons of difficulty and trial


In spite of plausible arguments


In terms of imperishable beauty


In the dim procession of years


In the highest conceivable degree


In the local phrase


In the nature of things


In the ordinarily accepted sense


In the realm of conjecture


In the scheme of things


In the tone of one who moralizes


In the twinkling of an eye


In the world of letters


In tones of genuine admiration


Incapable of flashy make-believe


Incited by a lust for gain


Incomparable lucidity and penetrativeness


Inconceivable clumsiness of organization


Indulge a train of gentle recollection


Indulging a sickly and nauseating petulance


Ineffably dreary and unpicturesque


Infected with a feverish dissatisfaction


Infuse a wholesome terror


Inimical to true and determined principle   [Inimical =  harmful; adverse]


Inimitable grace and felicity   [inimitable = defying imitation; matchless]


Injudicious and inelegant ostentation


Innumerable and incessant creations


Inordinate greed and love of wealth


Insatiably greedy of recognition


Insensibility to moral perspective and proportion


Insolent and riotous excess


Inspired by a vague malevolence


Inspirited by approval and applause


Instances might be multiplied indefinitely


Instantly alive to the slightest breach of decorum


Insufferable violence to the feelings


Intense and stubborn dogmatism


Intense sensitiveness to injustice


Intercourse with polished society


Intervals of respite and repose


Inveigh against established customs

                      [inveigh = angry disapproval; protest vehemently]


Invested with a partial authority


Inveterate forces of opposition


Invincible jealousy and hate


Involuntary thrill of gratified vanity


Involved in profound uncertainty


Involving ourselves in embarrassments


Inward appraisal and self-renouncement


Irregulated and desultory education     [desultory = haphazard; random]


Irrelevant to the main issue


Irresistibly impelled by conscience


Irritable bitterness and angry suspicion


It assumes the shape of malignity


It betrays a great want of prudence and discernment


It defies description


It dissipates every doubt and scruple


It enslaves the imagination


It extorted from him expressions of irritability


It gives one a little grip at the throat


It has been stigmatized as irrelevant


It has more than passing interest


It has seldom been surpassed


It imposes no constraint


It is a capital blunder


It is a common error among ignorant people


It is a consoling reflection


It is a mark of great instability


It is a staggering thought


It is always something vicious


It is an odd jealousy


It is an intolerable idea


It is impossible to resist acknowledging this


It is little more than a platitude


It is not consistent with elevated and dignified character


It is not wholly insignificant


It is notoriously easy to exaggerate


It is the common consent of men


It is unnecessary to multiply instances


It makes life insupportable


It must be a matter of conjecture


It occasions suspicion and discontent


It runs counter to all established customs


It was a matter of notoriety


It wears a ragged and dangerous front


It would be a fruitless and unthankful task


It would be superfluous to say


It would not seem an improbable conclusion


Its dominating and inspiring influence



J


Jealous and formidable foes


Justifiable in certain exigencies   [exigencies = urgent situations]



K


Keen power of calculation and unhesitating audacity


Kindle the flames of genuine oratory


Knotty and subtle disquisitions      [disquisitions = formal discourse]



L


Labored and far-fetched elocution


Laid down in a most unflinching and vigorous fashion


Lamentable instances of extravagance


Lash themselves into fury


Lax theories and corresponding practises


Lay hold of the affections


Leaden mood of dulness


Lend a critical ear


Lest the requirements of courtesy be disregarded


Links in the chain of reasoning


Little less than scandalous


Lofty and distinguished simplicity


Long-sighted continuity of thought and plan


Looking at the matter by and large


Looming large and ugly in the public view


Loose and otiose statement       [otiose = lazy; indolent; of no use]


Lost in indolent content


Lovely beyond all words


Lucidity and argumentative vigor


Lulled into a sense of false satisfaction



M


Maddened by a jealous hate


Maintained with ingenuity and vigor


Manifestly harsh and barbarous


Marvelous copiousness of illustration


Marvelously suggestive and inspiring


Men of profound erudition           [erudition = extensive learning]


Mere effects of negligence


Microscopic analysis of character


Mingled distrust and fear


Ministering to mere pleasure and indulgence


Minutely and rationally exposing their imperfections


Morbid and subjective brooding


More or less severe and prolonged


Moved to unaccustomed tears


My worst suspicions were confirmed


Mysterious and invincible darkness



N


Naked vigor of resolution


Naturally prone to believe


Necessity thus imposed by prudence


Nerveless and faithless folly


No more than brief palliatives or mitigations


Noble and sublime patience


Noisy torrent of talk


Not averse to a little gossip


Not so much polished as varnished


Noted for their quixotic love of adventure


Nothing could be more captious or unfair

           [captious = disposition to find and point out trivial faults]


Nothing remained but a graceful acquiescence


Notoriously distracted by internecine jealousies



O


Objects of general censure


Obscured beneath the rubbish of the age


Obsessed with an overweening pride


Obstacles that are difficult but not insuperable


Obviously at variance with facts


Occasioned by direct moral turpitude   [turpitude = depravity; baseness]


Oddly amenable to the proposed innovations


Often employed promiscuously


Ominous and swift days


Omitting all compliments and commonplaces


On a noble and commanding scale


On sure ground of fact


On the edge of great irritability


On the horns of a dilemma


One of life's ironical adjustments


One of the foreseen and inevitable results


One tissue of rashness, folly, ingratitude, and injustice


Openly flouted and disavowed


Oppressed by some vague dread


Organs of party rage and popular frenzy


Our opinions were diametrically opposed


Our vaunted civilization


Outward mark of obeisance and humiliation

                                     [obeisance = attitude of deference]


Overcome by an access of misery


Overshadowed by a fretful anxiety


Overwhelmed with reproach and popular indignation



P


Painful and lamentable indifference


Palpably and unmistakably commonplace


Parading an exception to prove a rule


Paralyzed by infirmity of purpose


Paralyzing doubts and scruples


Paramount obligation and righteousness


Partial and fragmentary evidence


Passionately addicted to pleasure


Patently inimical to liberty


Patience under continual provocation


Peculiarly liable to misinterpretation


Peddling and pitiful compromises


Pelting one another with catchwords


Perfectly illustrated and exemplified


Perpetually excite our curiosity


Pierced to the quick


Pitiful shifts of policy


Plainly dictated by a lofty purpose


Pleading the exigencies of strategical interest

                                         [exigencies = urgent situations]


Plunged into tumultuous preoccupation


Pointed out with triumphant malice


Polished beauty of diction


Political storm and stress.


Position of titular command


Preached with a fierce unction        [unction = exaggerated earnestness]


Precipitate and arbitrary changes


Predict the gloomiest consequences


Pregnant with a lesson of the deepest import


Presented with matchless vigor and courage


Princely generosity of praise


Prodigious and portentous events


Protracted to a vexatious length


Proud schemes for aggrandizement


Provocative of bitter hostility


Pruned of their excrescences and grotesque extremes

                        [excrescences = abnormal growth, such as a wart]


Purged of glaringly offensive features


Pursued to a vicious extent



Q


Questioned and tested in the crucible of experience


Quickened into a stabbing suspicion


Quickness to conceive and courage to execute


Quite destitute of resources


Quixotically generous about money



R


Radiantly and transparently happy


Railed at the world


Rare candor and flexibility of mind


Rare fidelity of purpose and achievement


Rarely brought to pass


Reeling headlong in luxury and sensuality


Regarded with sincere abhorrence


Regulated by the fixed rules of good-breeding


Religious rights and ceremonies


Reluctant to appear in so equivocal a character


Render null and void


Rent by internal contentions


Repugnant alike to reason and conscience


Resigned to growing infirmities


Resist a common adversary


Resting on some collateral circumstance


Rhetorical and ambitious diction


Rich and exuberant complexities


Rigid and exact boundaries


Rooted in immeasurable error and falsity


Roused to tumultuous activity


Rude and blind criticism



S


Sadly counterbalanced by numerous faults


Said with epigrammatic point          [epigrammatic = terse and witty]


Salutary in the extreme


Salutary tonic of a free current of public criticism


Sanity and quietness of soul


Scorned as an impracticable theory


Scornful of petty calculations


Screen themselves from punishment


Scrupulous and chivalrous loyalty


See with eagle glance through conventionalisms


Seem to savor of paradox


Seize the auspicious moment


Self-centered anxiety and preoccupation


Self-command born of varied intercourse


Self-interest of the most compelling character


Selfish and uselessly recondite       [recondite = not easily understood]


Selfishness pampered by abundance


Senses of marvelous acuteness


Sensible diminution of our comfort


Sensitive and apprehensive temperament


Sentimental wailings for the past


Serve the innocent purposes of life


Set down with meticulous care


Shames us out of our nonsense


Sharp outbursts of hatred and bitterness


Sharp restrictions of duty and opportunity


Sharply and definitely conceived


She had lost her way in a labyrinth of conjecture


She took refuge in a passionate exaggeration of her own insufficiency


Sheer midsummer madness


Silly displays of cheap animosity


Simple and obvious to a plain understanding


Sinister and fatal augury       [augury = sign of something coming; omen]


Skulking beneath a high-sounding benevolence


Slack-minded skimming of newspapers


Slavish doctrines of sectarianism


Slow and resistless forces of conviction


Smug respectability and self-content


Snatch some advantage


Socialized and exacting studies


Some very undignified disclosures


Something essentially inexpressible


Something stifling and over-perfumed


Spinning a network of falsehoods


Spiritual and moral significance


Staring in helpless bewilderment


Stealthily escaping observation


Stern determination to inflict summary justice


Stigmatized as moral cowards


Stimulated to profitable industry


Stopped as if on the verge of profundities


Strange frankness of cynical brutality


Strange streak of melancholy


Strangled by a snare of words


Strenuous and conscientious endeavor


Stretched out in dreary monotony


Strict and unalloyed veracity


Struck incessantly and remorselessly


Stupendous and awe-inspiring spectacle


Subject to the vicissitudes of fortune

                           [vicissitudes = sudden or unexpected changes]


Subjected to the grossest cruelties


Subordination to the common weal


Subservient to the ends of religion


Sudden and inexplicable changes of mood


Suddenly and imperatively summoned


Suddenly swelled to unprecedented magnitude


Sufficient to repel vulgar curiosity


Suggestive sagacity and penetration      [sagacity = farsighted; wise]


Suit the means to the end


Sullen and widespread discontent


Superior in strength and prowess


Supported by a splendid fearlessness


Supremely and undeniably great


Susceptible to every impulse and stimulus


Sustained dignity and mellifluous precision

                   [mellifluous = flowing with honey; smooth and sweet]


Swamping every aspiration and ambition


Swift and vehement outbursts of feeling



T


Take root in the heart


Take vengeance upon arrogant self-assertion


Taken in their totality


Tamed and wonted to a settled existence


Tempered by the emotional warmth of high moral ideals


That way madness lies


The abysmal depths of despair


The accumulated bitterness of failure


The agonies of conscious failure


The air was full of the cry and clamor


The animadversions of critics        [animadversions = Strong criticism]


The applause was unbounded


The best proof of its timeliness and salutariness

                                              [salutariness = favorable]


The bewildered and tumultuous world


The blackest abyss of despair


The blemishes of an extraordinary reputation


The bluntness of a provincial


The bogey of bad luck    [bogey = evil or mischievous spirit; hobgoblin]


The bounding pulse of youth


The brunt of life


The capacity for refined pursuits


The charming omniscience of youth


The cloak of cowardice


The collective life of humanity


The combined dictates of reason and experience


The companion of a noble and elevated spirit


The complaining gate swung open


The complex phenomena of life


The consequence of an agitated mind


The consequence of ignorance and childish assumption


The constant pressure of anxieties


The creature and tool of a party


The critical eyes of posterity


The dead and dusty past


The delimitation is sufficiently definite


The dictates of plain reason


The disjointed babble of the chronicler


The dull derision of the world


The dullest and most vacant minds


The dumb forces of brute nature


The dupe of some imposture


The eager pretentiousness of youth


The ebb and flow of events


The everlasting deluge of books


The evil was irremediable


The exchange of harmless amenities


The exertion of an inherent power


The expression was keenly intellectual


The facile conjectures of ignorant onlookers


The facts took him by the throat


The fitful swerving of passion


The flabbiness of our culture


The flaccid moods of prose


The flame of discord raged with redoubled fury


The flattest and most obvious truisms


The flippant insolence of a decadent skepticism


The foe of excess and immoderation


The fog of prejudice and ill-feeling


The frustration of their dearest hopes


The garb of civilization


The general infusion of wit


The gift of prophecy


The golden years of youth and maturity


The gratification of ambition


The grim reality of defeat


The hall-mark of a healthy humanity


The handmaid of tyranny


The hint of tranquillity and self-poise


The hints of an imaginable alliance


The hobgoblin of little minds


The holiest and most ennobling sensations of the soul


The hollowest of hollow shams


The homely virtue of practical utility


The hubbub and turmoil of the great world


The huge and thoughtful night


The hurly-burly of events


The idea was utterly hateful and repugnant


The idle of all hobbledehoys       [hobbledehoys = gawky adolescent boy]


The ignoble exploitation of public interests


The imminent fatality awaiting him


The impulse of prejudice or caprice


The incorrigibility of perverse human nature


The incursions of a venomous rabble


The indulgence of an overweening self-conceit


The inevitable climax and culmination


The inference is inescapable


The infirmity and fallibility of human nature


The inflexible serenity of the wheeling sun


The ingenuities of legal verbiage


The inmost recesses of the human heart


The insipidity of indifference


The insolence of power


The irony of circumstances


The jaded weariness of overstrained living


The jargon of well-handled and voice-worn phrases


The jostling and ugliness of life


The lawyer's habit of circumspection and delay


The long-delayed hour of retribution


The lowest grade of precarious mendacity     [mendacity = untruthfulness]


The makeshifts of mediocrity


The malarious air of after-dinner gossip


The mazes of conflicting testimony


The mean and frivolous affections of the idle


The menacing shadow of want


The mere fruit of his distempered imagination


The mere reversal of the wheel of fortune


The merest smattering of knowledge


The meticulous preciosity of the lawyer and the logician

                                  [preciosity = extreme overrefinement]


The most absurd elementary questions


The most amazing impudence


The most exacting and exciting business


The most fallacious of all fallacies


The most implacable logic


The most preposterous pride


The multitudinous tongue of the people


The outcome of unerring observation


The outraged conscience of mankind


The overpowering force of circumstances and necessity


The overweening exercise of power


The panacea for the evils of society


The panorama of history


The pernicious doctrines of skeptics


The perpetrator of clumsy witticisms


The precarious tenure of fame


The precursor of violence


The pretty and delicate game of talk


The primitive instinct of self-preservation


The property of little minds


The prophecies of visionaries and enthusiasts


The proprieties of etiquette


The purse-proud inflation of the moneyed man


The question was disconcertingly frank


The ravening wolves of brute instinct


The remark was sternly uncompromising


The result of caprice


The rigor of the law


The sanction and authority of a great name


The severest shocks of adverse fate


The sharp and vehement assertion of authority


The sinister influence of unprincipled men


The speaker drew an indignant breath


The springs of human action


The staple of conversation


The stillness of finality


The stings of self-reproach


The straightforward path of inexorable logic


The strong hand of executive authority


The sum and fruit of experience


The sum total of her impressions was negative


The summit of excellence


The supernatural prescience of prophecy


The sweet indulgence of good-nature


The sycophants of the rich

  [sycophant = servile self-seeker attempting to win favor by flattery]


The taint of fretful ingratitude


The talk flowed


The target for ill-informed criticism


The tears welled up and flowed abundantly


The tediousness of inactivity


The tendency to evade implicit obligations


The ties of a common cause


The tranquil aspects of society


The tribute of affectionate applause


The ultimate verdict of mankind


The unbroken habit of a lifetime


The unimpeachable correctness of his demeanor


The unlicensed indulgence of curiosity


The unsophisticated period of youth


The utmost excitement and agitation


The vanishing thoughtlessness of youth


The vanity and conceit of insular self-satisfaction


The very texture of man's soul and life


The victim of an increasing irritability


The victorious assertion of personality


The virtue of taciturnity     [taciturnity  = habitually untalkative]


The voice was sharp and peremptory

                              [peremptory = ending all debate or action]


The want of serious and sustained thinking


The widest compass of human life


The wonderful pageant of consciousness


The words stabbed him


Their authenticity may be greatly questioned


Their indignation waxed fast and furious


Themes of perennial interest


There was a blank silence


There was no sense of diminution


They affected the tone of an impartial observer


They rent the air with shouts and acclamations


Thoughts which mock at human life


Through ever-widening circles of devastation


Through the distortions of prejudice


Thwarted by seeming insuperable obstacles


Time was dissolving the circle of his friends


Times of unexampled difficulty


Tinseled over with a gaudy embellishment of words


To a practised eye


To be sedulously avoided             [sedulously = persevering]


To prosecute a scheme of personal ambition


To state the case is to prove it


Too preposterous for belief


Too puerile to notice


Too sanguine a forecast   [sanguine = cheerfully confident; optimistic]


Torn asunder by eternal strife


Totally detached from all factions


Touched with a sort of reverential gratitude


Transcend the bounds of human credulity


Transitory in its nature


Transparent and ridiculous self-importance


Treasured up with a timid and niggardly thrift


Treated the idea with lofty scorn


Tremendous exploits and thrilling escapades


True incentives to knowledge



U


Unamiable and envious attributes


Unbounded devotion and indulgence


Uncharted oceans of thought


Unconquerable fidelity to duty


Under all conceivable circumstances


Under the sway of arbitrary opinions


Undertaken under propitious circumstances

                            [propitious = auspicious, favorable; kindly]


Uneasy sense of impending change


Unequaled simplicity and directness of purpose


Unexceptional in point of breeding


Unexpected obstacles and inextricable difficulties


Unfailing and miraculous foresight


Unfeigned astonishment and indignation


Unfounded and incredible calumnies

                               [calumnies = maliciously false statements]


Unhampered by binding alliances


Universal in their signification


Unjust and unrighteous persecution


Unreasoning and unquestioning attachment


Unrivaled beauty and excellence


Unrivaled gift of succinct and trenchant speech

        [trenchant = forceful, effective, vigorous; incisive; distinct]


Unsparing industry and attention


Unspeakably alluring and satisfying


Unsurpassed in force and fitness


Unswerving and unselfish fidelity


Untiring enunciation of platitudes and fallacies


Unutterably trivial and paltry


Unwavering and unquestioning approbation

                                    [approbation = warm approval; praise]


Unworthy and ungenerous treatment


Upbraid ourselves with folly


Urgent warning and admonition


Utterly and essentially irreverent



V


Vast and vague aspirations


Vastly complex and far-reaching problems


Vehemently and indignantly repudiated


Venerable and dignified conservatism


Versatile and essentially original


Versed in the arts of exciting tumult and sedition

                                  [sedition =  insurrection; rebellion]


Viewed in its general tenor and substance


Vigorous and well compacted


Violating all decency


Violent and unforeseen vicissitudes

                          [vicissitudes = sudden or unexpected changes]


Vitiated by intolerance and shortsightedness

                 [vitiated = reduce the value; corrupt morally; debase]


Vivid even to oppressiveness


Voracious and insatiable appetite


Vulgar eagerness for place



W


Warnings too pregnant to be disregarded


Warped by personal pretensions and self-consequence


We may parenthetically note


We must profoundly revere it


Weigh the merits and demerits


Welcomed at first with skeptical contempt


Well-concerted and well-timed stratagems


Whirled into rapid and ceaseless motion


Wholesale friction and discontent


Wholly devoid of public interest


Widely divergent social traits


Wield an unequaled and paramount authority


Wiser counsels prevailed


Withal decidedly handsome


Written in indelible characters upon his heart



Y


Yield to urgent representations



Z


Zealous in the cause he affected to serve






[Pencilled into the flyleaf:

"A navy blue feeling where my heart used to be"]


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