All 19 Uses of
indifferent
in
Moby Dick
- Considering how sociably we had been sleeping together the night previous, and especially considering the affectionate arm I had found thrown over me upon waking in the morning, I thought this indifference of his very strange.†
Chpt 10-12
- There he sat, his very indifference speaking a nature in which there lurked no civilized hypocrisies and bland deceits.†
Chpt 10-12
- If there yet lurked any ice of indifference towards me in the Pagan's breast, this pleasant, genial smoke we had, soon thawed it out, and left us cronies.†
Chpt 10-12
- A happy-go-lucky ... taking perils as they came with an indifferent air;
Chpt 25-27 *indifferent = without interest
- Here, then, was this grey-headed, ungodly old man, chasing with curses a Job's whale round the world, at the head of a crew, too, chiefly made up of mongrel renegades, and castaways, and cannibals—morally enfeebled also, by the incompetence of mere unaided virtue or right-mindedness in Starbuck, the invunerable jollity of indifference and recklessness in Stubb, and the pervading mediocrity in Flask.†
Chpt 40-42
- Much the same is it with the backwoodsman of the West, who with comparative indifference views an unbounded prairie sheeted with driven snow, no shadow of tree or twig to break the fixed trance of whiteness.†
Chpt 40-42
- Meantime, Queequeg's impulsive, indifferent sword, sometimes hitting the woof slantingly, or crookedly, or strongly, or weakly, as the case might be; and by this difference in the concluding blow producing a corresponding contrast in the final aspect of the completed fabric; this savage's sword, thought I, which thus finally shapes and fashions both warp and woof; this easy, indifferent sword must be chance—aye, chance, free will, and necessity—nowise incompatible—all interweavingly…†
Chpt 46-48
- …impulsive, indifferent sword, sometimes hitting the woof slantingly, or crookedly, or strongly, or weakly, as the case might be; and by this difference in the concluding blow producing a corresponding contrast in the final aspect of the completed fabric; this savage's sword, thought I, which thus finally shapes and fashions both warp and woof; this easy, indifferent sword must be chance—aye, chance, free will, and necessity—nowise incompatible—all interweavingly working together.†
Chpt 46-48
- But the sight of little Flask mounted upon gigantic Daggoo was yet more curious; for sustaining himself with a cool, indifferent, easy, unthought of, barbaric majesty, the noble negro to every roll of the sea harmoniously rolled his fine form.†
Chpt 46-48
- But one cannot sustain an indifferent air concerning Fedallah.†
Chpt 49-51
- I think his broad brow to be full of a prairie-like placidity, born of a speculative indifference as to death.†
Chpt 73-75
- * *The sperm whale, as with all other species of the Leviathan, but unlike most other fish, breeds indifferently at all seasons; after a gestation which may probably be set down at nine months, producing but one at a time; though in some few known instances giving birth to an Esau and Jacob:—a contingency provided for in suckling by two teats, curiously situated, one on each side of the anus; but the breasts themselves extend upwards from that.†
Chpt 85-87
- So man's insanity is heaven's sense; and wandering from all mortal reason, man comes at last to that celestial thought, which, to reason, is absurd and frantic; and weal or woe, feels then uncompromised, indifferent as his God.†
Chpt 91-93
- Thus, this carpenter was prepared at all points, and alike indifferent and without respect in all.†
Chpt 106-108
- 'tis but indifferent architecture to make a blind dome; here's one.†
Chpt 106-108
- No sooner was the carpenter apprised of the order, than taking his rule, he forthwith with all the indifferent promptitude of his character, proceeded into the forecastle and took Queequeg's measure with great accuracy, regularly chalking Queequeg's person as he shifted the rule.†
Chpt 109-111
- Come in thy lowest form of love, and I will kneel and kiss thee; but at thy highest, come as mere supernal power; and though thou launchest navies of full-freighted worlds, there's that in here that still remains indifferent.†
Chpt 118-120
- Oh, I'm indifferent enough, sir, for that; but the reason why the grave-digger made music must have been because there was none in his spade, sir.†
Chpt 127-129
- …latitude and longitude where his tormenting wound had been inflicted; now that a vessel had been spoken which on the very day preceding had actually encountered Moby Dick;—and now that all his successive meetings with various ships contrastingly concurred to show the demoniac indifference with which the white whale tore his hunters, whether sinning or sinned against; now it was that there lurked a something in the old man's eyes, which it was hardly sufferable for feeble souls to see.†
Chpt 130-132
Definition:
-
(indifferent) without interestin various senses, including:
- unconcerned -- as in "She is indifferent to what is served to eat."
- unsympathetic -- as in "She is indifferent to his needs."
- not of good quality (which may imply average or poor quality depending upon context) -- as in "an indifferent performance"
- impartial -- as in "We need a judge who is indifferent."