Word: awed
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Wonder's entry in Webster's dictionary suggests its distinctive essence. It includes such words as awe, marvel, doubt, wistfulness, uncertainty, curiosity. The wonder of which I speak involves embrace of the tentative, or inspired exploration, or enchantment with the extraordinary...
...sense of awe is perhaps strongest as young children, when nearly everything is exciting because it is new and bigger than we are. This sense subsides over time, and as we enter our teen years it becomes uncool to be impressed by anything. The uncertainty and tentativeness which underlie one's sense of wonder are still present, but they become masked, as teens embrace a disaffected, more-ambivalent-than-thou stance...
...they don't. A Harvard education promises the chance to rub elbows with an incredibly diverse bunch of people; as first-years we think it's feasible to meet them all, become a part of their little worlds and offer them entrance to ours. But it can be equally awe-inspiring to think how radically different the lives of others are from your own, how no experience is going to bring you any closer to their worldview...
...Quebec farce Louis 19, le roi des ondes. But Hollywood, temporarily bereft of original ideas, has become fascinated by its power to create and corrupt. It looks at O.J., Monica, the rubes and rhubarbs on Jerry Springer and asks, with a mixture of self-accusation and self-awe, What have we done...
...compete since Jan. 5 and then come out and do what he did is just unbelievable," Weiss said. "[Joey] had everyone in awe. He just shut them down...