Word: vainly
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...high life she preposterously describes (in her books, champagne bottles are opened with corkscrews). Indeed, she knows nothing of life at all, and refuses to learn. She does not copy from other books: it all comes out of the recesses of her appalling imagination. She is arrogant, vain and unfeeling-a child in a permanent lifelong tantrum. When her huge, ferocious dog kills a small terrier, she insists it was the terrier that attacked; when the critics accurately describe her work as ludicrous, she insists (and firmly believes) that they are spiteful, jealous fools. In short, as one character says...
...Nothing counts but victories, no matter how achieved. I have searched long, diligently-and in vain-to find more than one individual who is outstanding both as an athlete and layman.* I have learned that to be a good sport in the concept of athletes and coaches one must 1) win at any cost. 2) cheat if necessary-but don't get caught, 3) feel that victory, not having fun. is important...
With the indignation of the historian, Bruce decided this was a "silly plaque" to mark the spot where Garfield, dying of wounds from bullets fired at him by an assassin in Washington's old Sixth Street railroad station, had been sent by his physicians in a last vain hope that the sea air might save his ebbing life. Last week, having started with a contribution from his own weekly 50? allowance, Bruce was in the midst of a campaign to raise funds for a memorial worthy of a President. In time he wants to collect "several hundred dollars...
...blackboard than twelve of his 16 students began following an old Spanish custom by discussing the questions aloud and threshing out their answers. During the whole two hours they peered at one another's papers, passed around notes, kept up a constant chatter. McNaughton begged in vain for silence. When he asked three of the most recalcitrant students to move to other desks, one flatly refused. Finally, the desperate professor implored his interpreter to intervene. Scandalized, the interpreter declared that he could not possibly tell his social superiors how to behave...
...expensive business, for even though he was rich by the standards of Roghudi, Mayor Nucera, a landholder and the nephew of the local archpriest, could not afford those three cigarettes a day. And in the end it proved in vain. Francesca passed by all the smoke rings with a preoccupied eye. Pietro raced off once again to Reggio and bought himself a book on how to write love letters. Francesca left his best efforts unanswered...