Literary notes about most (AI summary)
In literature, the word "most" is frequently employed as a superlative marker to magnify quality, quantity, or intensity, indicating that something exceeds all others in a given set. It can modify adjectives and adverbs to emphasize extremes, as seen when a character’s conduct is described as the "most improbable" [1] or when an idea is hailed as the "most abstract truth" that is still practical [2]. Authors also use "most" to denote supremacy or ultimate importance, such as referring to the "Most High" in biblical allusions [3, 4] or characterizing love and respect in poignant moments [5]. Additionally, it serves to quantify portions of a whole, like when "most of the chiefs" are dismissed [6] or "most of the party" departs [7]. In each instance, "most" intensifies the description, providing the reader with an unmistakable sense of exceptional degree or quantity.
- Those that best pleased her, as placing his conduct in the noblest light, seemed most improbable.
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - But to a sound judgment, the most abstract truth is the most practical.
— from Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson - To the most absolute.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - For thou hast a treasure of good works laid up with the Most High, but it shall not be shewed thee until the last times.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - Nay, ask me if I can refrain from love; For I do love her most unfeignedly.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - Then he gave most of the chiefs leave to return home, but kept the lendermen by him whom he thought the most serviceable.
— from Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson - Most of the party went temporarily to Muskego.
— from A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States by George T. Flom
