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imperceptible
in a sentence

show 189 more with this conextual meaning
  • She hesitated, then nodded almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • The T intersection of CR 686 perched on a little rise, a rise nearly as imperceptible as the bump in the center of an inexpensive plate.†   (source)
  • His chin lifted almost imperceptibly higher.†   (source)
  • He was dribbling the basketball, his head nodding almost imperceptibly to the rhythm of the ball bouncing on the floor, his eyes always on the rim of the basket.†   (source)
  • The circumference of this tunnel is so large that the curve is imperceptible-like that of the earth.†   (source)
  • "You have minds," Bastian murmurs one evening in the refectory, each boy hunching almost imperceptibly farther over his food as the commandant's finger grazes the back of his uniform.†   (source)
  • Suddenly, the elder at the center smiled almost imperceptibly, and the boy felt better.†   (source)
  • And I don't move a muscle other than to take shallow, almost imperceptible breaths.†   (source)
  • I imperceptibly nodded and shook my head, yes-and-no. "And the perfect word for me," he added in a distorted voice, as though his tongue had swollen, "psycho.†   (source)
  • I was experiencing, he said, a series of tiny, nearly imperceptible strokes.†   (source)
  • He retains hold of my arm, and as he talks his spine straightens imperceptibly, his chest expands, his voice assumes more and more the sprightliness and jocularity of youth.†   (source)
  • Painfully, almost imperceptibly, the Dolphin inched forward through the water.†   (source)
  • That which came together will fall apart imperceptibly slowly, and I will forget, but she will forgive my forgetting, just as I forgive her for forgetting me and the Colonel and everyone but herself and her mom in those last moments she spent as a person.†   (source)
  • Then he became still weaker, his face hollowed and darkened, his breathing became imperceptible.†   (source)
  • The light that filtered in through the window struck her shoulders and provided a faint sensation of warmth, so slight it was almost imperceptible.†   (source)
  • In answer, he gives an almost imperceptible shake of his head.†   (source)
  • Levana's lips were pinched, her face static but for the slow drawing back of her ears, the almost imperceptible clenching of her jaw.†   (source)
  • And if the muscles of his jaws stretched imperceptibly, she would yawn long before he would.†   (source)
  • DANFORTH, now an almost imperceptible hardness in his voice: Then your purpose is somewhat larger.†   (source)
  • Aspen gave me an almost imperceptible smile.†   (source)
  • In the corner, the robot's head swung up sharply, but then wobbled about imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • The other passengers in back — (unkempt handlebar-moustache guy; grown woman with braces; anxious black mom with elementary-school girl; W. C. Fields—looking oldster with nose tubes and oxygen canister) — all seemed too surprised to talk, though the little girl, eyes round, shook her head almost imperceptibly: no. The driver waited.†   (source)
  • A muscle flexes at the corner of her mouth, almost imperceptible.†   (source)
  • She shook her head almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • The rest of his body rocked almost imperceptibly inside his white shirt, marking time, keeping his rhythm.†   (source)
  • Thinking none of this but feeling all of it, I awaited the embrace of the Shrike with the imperceptible tremble of a virgin bride.†   (source)
  • As I fidgeted and paced, they simply grew more still, two statues whose eyes followed me imperceptibly as I moved.†   (source)
  • Almost imperceptibly, he was inching his head forward, to see around her.†   (source)
  • Imperceptibly, downright reasonably, he was moving out of 124.†   (source)
  • Was it coincidence that joy and power imperceptibly drained from my ministry?†   (source)
  • Brittain glances at Mautz, who nods imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • But slowly, imperceptibly, my reasons for staying changed.†   (source)
  • Basta raised his hand, but when Capricorn almost imperceptibly shook his head he lowered it again like a rebuked child.†   (source)
  • It was imperceptible, but they did still leak, and on long journeys their labels became oily and transparent.†   (source)
  • The house seemed to be composed of a series of circular rooms that flowed, almost imperceptibly, into one another.†   (source)
  • Jace flinched, almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • Riley gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head.†   (source)
  • The old man nodded almost imperceptibility to the bartender.†   (source)
  • Dismayed by her own audacity, she seized Aunt Escolastica's arm so she would not fall, and her aunt felt the icy perspiration on her hand through the lace mitt, and she comforted her with an imperceptible sign of unconditional complicity.†   (source)
  • We pass through a number of towns and gradually, almost imperceptibly, the sun warms us up, and my feelings warm up with it.†   (source)
  • Almost imperceptibly, Jenny closed in on his flank.†   (source)
  • A bigger house had been set on our roof and was imperceptibly pushing us into the ground.†   (source)
  • After the interview the Wennerström affair imperceptibly slipped from the financial section over to the desks of the crime reporters.†   (source)
  • We hear a faint electrical crackling, and a hint of life crosses the TV screen as it begins to flicker almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • Patch asked, directing an almost imperceptible nod at the foosball table.†   (source)
  • The drop in his strength that followed was almost imperceptible.†   (source)
  • As the black Chevrolet regained the highway and hurried on across a country side imperceptibly ascending toward the colder, cracker-dry climate of the high wheat plains, Perry closed his eyes and dozed off into a food-dazed semi-slumber, from which he woke to hear a voice reading the eleven-o'clock news.†   (source)
  • Peter's father nodded imperceptibly at the gun.†   (source)
  • I saw Helen at a distance and gave her a nearly imperceptible shake of the head.†   (source)
  • These fantasies began as fantasies of love and soured imperceptibly into fantasies of violence and humiliation.†   (source)
  • I push imperceptibly forward.†   (source)
  • Suddenly, we saw the door of Block 37 open imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • It showed a kind of obscenity you see only in nature, an obscenity so extreme that it dissolves imperceptibly into beauty.†   (source)
  • A fan turned almost imperceptibly against the stained acoustic tiles on the ceiling.†   (source)
  • She was holding the goblet again, and she raised it in an almost imperceptible salute to me before taking a drink from it and turning back to laugh at something Erik had just said.†   (source)
  • The implications of those two studies go to the heart of the Law of the Few, because they suggest that what we think of as inner states — preferences and emotions — are actually powerfully and imperceptibly influenced by seemingly inconsequential personal influences, by a newscaster we watch for a few minutes a day or by someone we sit next to, in silence, in a two-minute experiment.†   (source)
  • The slightest movement, almost imperceptible, before a hand ripped back the curtain.†   (source)
  • Usually he sat totally still except for his head bobbing, slowly and almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • Miss Luz, almost imperceptible in the other bottom bunk, was recovering from breast cancer treatment and had no hair on her tiny head.†   (source)
  • The reactor plant noises, mainly from pumps that circulated the cooling water, were almost imperceptible.†   (source)
  • Or, in the small hours, with no life-threatening admissions, it could crawl imperceptibly toward morning.†   (source)
  • Now that they were focused on the mission, both Oscar and Cristian relaxed and made almost imperceptibly small movements with their joysticks.†   (source)
  • A young boy, perhaps thirteen, and his girl crossed the street a block up, pausing imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • Mr. Armour walks us to the door, shaking Margot's hand and nodding almost imperceptibly at me with a strained smile that I think might be pity, or possibly, disdain.†   (source)
  • An almost imperceptible sheen of anger flashed across the Winter King's features.†   (source)
  • We sit forever, it seems, in infinite night while all around us the tall prairie grasses move and grow, bending imperceptibly to the moon's faint light.†   (source)
  • And slightly, almost imperceptibly, his hand moved.†   (source)
  • From a host of small details imperceptible to others, Jean learned to guess when she was planning one of her nocturnal excursions to the river.†   (source)
  • Snowden rejected the aspirin with an almost imperceptible shake of his head.†   (source)
  • And as we crossed the threshold, I could almost feel the house settle, as the climate inside had changed, almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • And eventually the dark peeled back layer by layer, and with imperceptible gradations the sky feathered to a delicate pale blue.†   (source)
  • If she expected him to squirm and swallow hard, she was in for a surprise: Stone looked steadily at Hema, and after a beat, he nodded almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • The tremor in my hand has become so normal, so nonstop, that it's generally imperceptible to me.†   (source)
  • The man's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly, then he stepped to his right.†   (source)
  • She gave a small, almost imperceptible nod, and took the milk I offered.†   (source)
  • Instead of the swift and imperceptible flowing of time, you are aware of its nodes, those points where time stands still or from which it leaps ahead.†   (source)
  • With minuscule-nearly imperceptible-motions of his head, Cactus nodded in the affirmative.†   (source)
  • It wasn't as deliberate as deciding, at age six, to become an atheist, but more like an imperceptible sloughing of layers.†   (source)
  • With an almost imperceptible nod, Umbra stood aside.†   (source)
  • He began to edge his way over to it, knowing that Iggy would be able to follow the almost imperceptible sound.†   (source)
  • My head dangles, my eyes are open but unfocused, my breathing imperceptible.†   (source)
  • The dark road had risen imperceptibly to the top of a hill.†   (source)
  • The tide was reversing slowly, almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • He then gave a quick, almost imperceptible nod and the two knights pushed the doomed man backward into the pit.†   (source)
  • The gradual change in direction was imperceptible in the rolling sea.†   (source)
  • "No," Rafi said as he began to climb, using an almost imperceptible handhold.†   (source)
  • But he could not hold her tightly enough; she clung to him urgently as he stroked her hair, and he was obscurely frightened, because it was not like her, and because he felt beneath them a fault, imperceptibly widening, threatening.†   (source)
  • As imperceptibly as possible, Denny slid his phone from his pocket.†   (source)
  • Personal property is such an invisible asset, it can be taxed only through the imperceptible agency of taxes on consumption.†   (source)
  • The demon followed the almost imperceptible crease in Drizzt's jerkin created by the long chain.†   (source)
  • Lee's head shifted slightly, imperceptibly; his eyes shifted.†   (source)
  • At last, as if by some imperceptible signal, the party came to an end.†   (source)
  • It was a world alive, always changing and moving; and if you knew where to look, you could see it, sometimes almost imperceptible, like the motion of the stars across the sky.†   (source)
  • The stove cooled gradually with almost imperceptible interior pops and puffings.†   (source)
  • Men had grown accustomed to Karellen's imperceptible rule-but they were becoming impatient to know who ruled them.†   (source)
  • She averted her face for an instant, glancing at an adjoining line of prisoners shambling through the golgotha of their selection, and saw Eva's flute teacher Zaorski at the precise congealed instant of his doom—dispatched to the left and to Birkenau by an almost imperceptible nod of a doctor's head.†   (source)
  • Imperceptibly the lights commence to narrow down.†   (source)
  • The straightness of the way, the swish of traffic, the unbroken speed are hypnotic, and while the miles peel off an imperceptible exhaustion sets in.†   (source)
  • Slowly, imperceptibly, the bush boy dropped behind; edging ever closer to the foolish birds.†   (source)
  • The farm around the milkhouse lay as quiet as a picture in a magazine, but because of the music it seemed nevertheless alive and sentient, like motionless stone imperceptibly trembling with a dance of atoms, or like a sleeping head full of dreams.†   (source)
  • Just slowly and imperceptibly, as the harvest seasons and rainy seasons passed by, his mockery had become more tired, his superiority had become more quiet.†   (source)
  • She seldom used the other expression because it was not often necessary for her to retract a statement, but when she did, her face came to a complete stop, there was an almost imperceptible movement of her black eyes, during which they seemed to be receding, and then the observer would see that Mrs. Freeman, though she might stand there as real as several grain sacks thrown on top of each other, was no longer there in spirit.†   (source)
  • For some imperceptible reason she was alarmed.†   (source)
  • There loomed an imperceptible, a terrifying border-line.†   (source)
  • Or pulled the other one, sheet and all, from under Mr. Holifield (whose hat had imperceptibly turned on the bedpost; it changed like a weathercock) ?†   (source)
  • As he gripped the steering wheel, his lean hands, burned coffee-color by the sun, shook perpetually, although almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • There was an almost imperceptible pause.†   (source)
  • She shook her head almost imperceptibly, then resumed her own deadpan stare at the opposite wall.†   (source)
  • She nodded almost imperceptibly and then opened her mouth, but Snape forestalled her.†   (source)
  • Slowly, like Indian summer moving imperceptibly toward fall, he looks toward her.†   (source)
  • It happened quickly, yet by imperceptible degrees.†   (source)
  • A slight limp causes Ashoke's right foot to drag almost imperceptibly with each step.†   (source)
  • Whatever air was coming through the slit seemed imperceptible.†   (source)
  • "Thirteen," said Sol after an imperceptible pause.†   (source)
  • Wang noticed that her eyes dimmed almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • Tonight the wood filled the room with the almost imperceptible aroma of citrus and quenching iron.†   (source)
  • He gives an almost imperceptible shake of his head.†   (source)
  • He gave a little shake of the head, almost imperceptible.†   (source)
  • He smiled almost imperceptibly and moved on.†   (source)
  • "Fair enough," she said at last with an almost imperceptible nod.†   (source)
  • The gray day was dimming almost imperceptibly into night.†   (source)
  • Finally she shakes her head, an almost imperceptible movement, shooting me a sad smile.†   (source)
  • Kote shrugged nonchalantly, his smile fading an imperceptible amount.†   (source)
  • He shakes his head, an almost imperceptible motion.†   (source)
  • I stared at them mutely as the world darkened imperceptibly around me.†   (source)
  • Clausen glanced almost imperceptibly in that direction.†   (source)
  • Her shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • Simon shot Jordan a look, but Jordan shook his head, almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • He shook his head, the movement almost imperceptible.†   (source)
  • A faint, almost imperceptible smile crossed his lips.†   (source)
  • The rise and fall of her chest slowed until it was imperceptible.†   (source)
  • He scooted imperceptibly closer on the couch.†   (source)
  • Clary felt Jace's hand tighten on hers, a nearly imperceptible pressure.†   (source)
  • He offered a slight, almost imperceptible nod of encouragement before the mask of stoicism returned.†   (source)
  • As she took her first sip, an almost imperceptible wince crossed her face.†   (source)
  • I thought I saw her hand lift, if not imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • The Cartographer's head lifted almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • But the change was so slight, so imperceptible, I did not sense the shift.†   (source)
  • One hand slipped almost imperceptibly out of her flowing robes and reached toward mine.†   (source)
  • The change was imperceptible, but Clara noticed it.†   (source)
  • And then, almost imperceptibly at first, they began to slow.†   (source)
  • His lips twitched, almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • The pendulum on the clock began to move almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • I gave Fang an almost imperceptible nod and glanced back at the fire exit door behind him.†   (source)
  • A sudden, almost imperceptible jerk of his head told her one of her guesses had been correct.†   (source)
  • The gunmen steadied their aim by an almost imperceptible movement.†   (source)
  • Her lips move imperceptibly as she breathes her prayers.†   (source)
  • We take two more turns, each turn lightening the shadows almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • I met Christian Gallagher's gaze and he nodded imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • A few seconds later an almost imperceptible noise began as the reactor plant increased power.†   (source)
  • I nod almost imperceptibly in thanks to her, because if he won't acknowledge it, I will.†   (source)
  • Almost imperceptibly, at the beginning of November, the marsh began to change its color.†   (source)
  • He nods his head almost imperceptibly toward the group.†   (source)
  • She moved her head imperceptibly to let it touch his shoulder for a moment.†   (source)
  • Jaime leaned over the body looking for some imperceptible heartbeat, but there was none.†   (source)
  • But the Institute changed me, slowly, imperceptibly, as any good college would.†   (source)
  • He could not bear the way she stared at him and he lowered his head imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • His tub-thumping piano playing changed imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • But no. She shook her head, an imperceptible, forgiving shrug.†   (source)
  • But Lara evaded his question, imperceptibly changing the subject.†   (source)
  • He let two dogs run loose, and almost imperceptibly, he chewed gum.†   (source)
  • THE NATION SLID IMPERCEPTIBLY toward war, frightened and at the same time attracted.†   (source)
  • Karellen made an imperceptible gesture with his hand.†   (source)
  • But it would end up being one of many little things-a slow accrual, compounding steadily and imperceptibly toward critical mass.†   (source)
  • As it turned out, the door was indeed marked, but its engraving was so faded, it was almost imperceptible.†   (source)
  • Mr. Curtain's chair had been rolling closer, slowly, almost imperceptibly, so that now their faces were very near to each other.†   (source)
  • Squinting through my camera's telephoto lens at the upper Southeast Ridge, I was surprised to see four antlike figures moving almost imperceptibly toward the South Summit.†   (source)
  • In contrast to the drabness of color, to the cold that numbed her, the air was filled with a delicate, springlike fragrance, almost imperceptible as it blew softly against her face.†   (source)
  • Almost imperceptibly, he inched closer, and Cinder found her elbow crawling up his shoulder in a way that felt impossibly natural.†   (source)
  • But before help comes, slowly, imperceptibly at first, the entire consciousness of Phaedrus begins to come apart — to dissolve and fade away.†   (source)
  • Imperceptibly, her weight would shift to her right foot as she stared across at the Houses of Parliament without seeing them, and thought not about her journal, but about the long story she had written and sent away to a magazine.†   (source)
  • "The hardest part," says Walt, pausing over a shot of his son clowning around on a family vacation, his voice cracking almost imperceptibly, "is simply not having him around anymore.†   (source)
  • "Welcome," said Slartibartfast as the tiny speck that was the aircar, traveling now at three times the speed of sound, crept imperceptibly forward into the mind-boggling space, "welcome," he said, "to our factory floor."†   (source)
  • I know I have changed too, the stubbornly growing paunch, the just-as-determined retreat of the hairline, but the decline of one's own body is incremental, as nearly imperceptible as it is insidious.†   (source)
  • She was born to bustle, and the forced idleness dragged her down by imperceptible degrees, a little more each day.†   (source)
  • Taken together, they marked the passage of his life, for he experienced the cruelty of time not so much in his own flesh as in the imperceptible changes he discerned in Fermina Daza each time he saw her.†   (source)
  • The part of him that over time would gradually, almost imperceptibly, accept this new identity that at present prickled like a wet wool sweater.†   (source)
  • She caught the eye of Stenton, who, with an almost imperceptible tilt of his head, made clear that Mae should turn her lens back to the aquarium.†   (source)
  • Talking about Afghanistan—and he is astonished at how quickly and imperceptibly this has happened—suddenly feels like discussing a recently watched, emotionally drenching film whose effects are beginning to wane.†   (source)
  • With an almost imperceptible tilt of his head, he seemed to register that Mae wasn't entirely comfortable with the proceedings thus far, but just as soon as he acknowledged her, he turned back to Gus, grinning like a game-show host.†   (source)
  • About five minutes before I get there, I think I can make out a rhythm drumming almost imperceptibly under the throaty song of the crickets, but for a while I'm not sure if I'm just imagining it or only hearing my heart, which has started pounding again.†   (source)
  • Then, slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, the quick banter between us gave way to more stilted conversation, punctuated by longer pauses.†   (source)
  • Sarah nodded almost imperceptibly, and Maureen pressed on with the monologue that Sarah had practically memorized by now.†   (source)
  • With an anxiety that came to be intolerable, she waited for the lunch days, the afternoons of Chinese checkers, and time flew by in the company of the warrior with a nostalgic name whose fingers trembled imperceptibly as he moved the pieces.†   (source)
  • It wasn't as if a light had suddenly blinked on; it was more like a sunrise, where the sky grows lighter and lighter, almost imperceptibly, before you realized it was morning.†   (source)
  • On either side of the building, sea oats waved a greeting, and sand formed a curving dune that changed imperceptibly with each passing day as individual grains shifted from one spot to the next.†   (source)
  • Though her head felt as though it were spinning, Gabby nodded almost imperceptibly as she felt things click into place: the fact that Travis usually seemed only half-dressed, his utter lack of discomfort at conversing with his chest bared, an explanation for why he worked out so much.†   (source)
  • I learned to smoke cigarettes, drank my first beer, got a deep tan, and double-pierced my ears as I began to drift, almost imperceptibly at first, from my mother.†   (source)
  • But then, almost imperceptibly at first, it began to lift up, then a little farther, and farther still.†   (source)
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