All 18 Uses of
contrast
in
The House of Mirth
- When the tea came he watched her in silent fascination while her hands flitted above the tray, looking miraculously fine and slender in contrast to the coarse china and lumpy bread.†
Chpt 1.2 (definition 1) *
- Her small pale face seemed the mere setting of a pair of dark exaggerated eyes, of which the visionary gaze contrasted curiously with her self-assertive tone and gestures; so that, as one of her friends observed, she was like a disembodied spirit who took up a great deal of room.†
Chpt 1.2 (definition 1)
- This was one of the moments when the sense of contrast was uppermost, and she turned away impatiently as Mrs. George Dorset, glittering in serpentine spangles, drew Percy Gryce in her wake to a confidential nook beneath the gallery.†
Chpt 1.3 (definition 2)
- She had learned the value of contrast in throwing her charms into relief, and was fully aware of the extent to which Mrs. Fisher's volubility was enhancing her own repose.†
Chpt 1.4 (definition 2)
- They had paused before the table on which the bride's jewels were displayed, and Lily's heart gave an envious throb as she caught the refraction of light from their surfaces—the milky gleam of perfectly matched pearls, the flash of rubies relieved against contrasting velvet, the intense blue rays of sapphires kindled into light by surrounding diamonds: all these precious tints enhanced and deepened by the varied art of their setting.†
Chpt 1.8 (definition 1)
- Her room was large and comfortably-furnished—it was the envy and admiration of poor Grace Stepney, who boarded; but, contrasted with the light tints and luxurious appointments of the guest-rooms where so many weeks of Lily's existence were spent, it seemed as dreary as a prison.†
Chpt 1.9 (definition 1)
- What a contrast to the subtle elegance of the setting she had pictured for herself—an apartment which should surpass the complicated luxury of her friends' surroundings by the whole extent of that artistic sensibility which made her feel herself their superior; in which every tint and line should combine to enhance her beauty and give distinction to her leisure!†
Chpt 1.9 (definition 1)
- The other-regarding sentiments had not been cultivated in Lily, and she was often bored by the relation of her friend's philanthropic efforts, but today her quick dramatizing fancy seized on the contrast between her own situation and that represented by some of Gerty's "cases."†
Chpt 1.10 (definition 2)
- Indeed, so skilfully had the personality of the actors been subdued to the scenes they figured in that even the least imaginative of the audience must have felt a thrill of contrast when the curtain suddenly parted on a picture which was simply and undisguisedly the portrait of Miss Bart.†
Chpt 1.12 (definition 1)
- Her visit to the Girls' Club had first brought her in contact with the dramatic contrasts of life.†
Chpt 1.14 (definition 1)
- The coffee was so exquisite that he asked for a second cup: such a contrast to the watery stuff at the club!†
Chpt 1.14 (definition 1)
- The contrast was too grotesque: she could scarcely suppress the smile it provoked.†
Chpt 1.15 (definition 2)
- The multiplicity of its appeals—the perpetual surprise of its contrasts and resemblances!†
Chpt 2.1 (definition 1)
- It may be doubted if such an emotion had ever before been evoked by Carry Fisher's surroundings; but, contrasted to the world in which Lily had lately lived, there was an air of repose and stability in the very placing of the furniture, and in the quiet competence of the parlour-maid who led her up to her room.†
Chpt 2.6 (definition 1)
- The importunate memory was kept before her by its ironic contrast to her present situation, since her walk with Selden had represented an irresistible flight from just such a climax as the present excursion was designed to bring about.†
Chpt 2.7 (definition 1)
- There was something irritating to her in the mute interrogation of Gerty's sympathy: she felt the real difficulties of her situation to be incommunicable to any one whose theory of values was so different from her own, and the restrictions of Gerty's life, which had once had the charm of contrast, now reminded her too painfully of the limits to which her own existence was shrinking.†
Chpt 2.8 (definition 1)
- The force of contrast gave an added keenness to the luxury of lying once more in a soft-pillowed bed, and looking across a spacious sunlit room at a breakfast-table set invitingly near the fire.†
Chpt 2.9 (definition 2) *
- The morning was in harsh contrast to the previous day.†
Chpt 2.11 (definition 1)
Definitions:
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(1) (contrast as in: contrast their writing styles) point to differences between; or compare to show differences
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(2) (contrast as in: there is a contrast) a difference -- especially a notable difference; or the side-x-side arrangement of things that draws attention to an unmissable difference