Literary notes about total (AI summary)
The word "total" is employed in literature to evoke a sense of completeness or entirety, whether referring to concrete measurements or abstract states. In narrative prose, it often intensifies a description—emphasizing absolute silence, darkness, or ignorance, as seen when a character is plunged into total darkness or silence [1, 2, 3, 4]. Conversely, it also functions in more technical or analytical language, serving to denote summative counts, complete aggregates, or comprehensive totals in discussions of mortality, numerical claims, or even military strength [5, 6, 7, 8]. Additionally, some authors deploy it in a philosophical or metaphorical context to suggest an all-encompassing condition or quality, underscoring the spectrum from the physically measurable to the realm of ideas [9, 10, 11].
- They then sat down, and when her enquiries after Rosings were made, seemed in danger of sinking into total silence.
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - I was in total darkness now and I strained my ears to hear what was going on with my friends.
— from Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - Just then the luminous globe that lighted the cell went out, and left us in total darkness.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne - Besides, the moon disappeared then, and left us in total darkness.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne - 3. Make a total score of 300 with 72 arrows, using standard target at a distance of fifty yards.
— from Boy Scouts Handbook by Boy Scouts of America - Adding this figure to the estimate under other heads, we have a total claim against Germany of $40,000,000,000.
— from The Economic Consequences of the Peace by John Maynard Keynes - Of this total, sixty-four killed and one hundred and seventy-eight wounded, or three fourths, fell to three ships.
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. Mahan - Total loss, killed, wounded, and missing, thirty-five hundred and twenty-one, and ten pieces of artillery.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. Sherman - if Spirits embrace, Total they mix, union of pure with pure Desiring, nor restrained conveyance need, As flesh to mix with flesh, or soul with soul.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton - Thus, the First Cause must be in every sense perfect, complete, total, including within itself all power, and transcending all law."
— from Know the Truth: A Critique on the Hamiltonian Theory of Limitation by Jesse Henry Jones - And yet the way of philosophy, or perfect love of the unseen, is total abstinence from bodily delights.
— from Phaedrus by Plato
