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imperceptible
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show 188 more with this conextual meaning
  • By nearly imperceptible modulations I could hear the change.†   (source)
  • January faded imperceptibly into February, with no change in the bitterly cold weather.†   (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)
  • Then silently, almost imperceptibly, he released a sigh and allowed his shoulders to relax.†   (source)
  • And I don't move a muscle other than to take shallow, almost imperceptible breaths.†   (source)
  • She turned to walk around it, and almost imperceptibly her steps slowed.†   (source)
  • Almost imperceptibly, he was inching his head forward, to see around her.†   (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)
  • Peter's father nodded imperceptibly at the gun.†   (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)
  • His chin lifted almost imperceptibly higher.†   (source)
  • The circumference of this tunnel is so large that the curve is imperceptible-like that of the earth.†   (source)
  • In answer, he gives an almost imperceptible shake of his head.†   (source)
  • I imperceptibly nodded and shook my head, yes-and-no.†   (source)
  • In answer to her question, the bell rang — only once, and almost imperceptibly, as if Sticky had just tapped it with his fingernails.†   (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)
  • I was experiencing, he said, a series of tiny, nearly imperceptible strokes.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • It was imperceptible, but they did still leak, and on long journeys their labels became oily and transparent.†   (source)
  • In the corner, the robot's head swung up sharply, but then wobbled about imperceptibly.†   (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)
  • She shook her head almost 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)
  • Basta raised his hand, but when Capricorn almost imperceptibly shook his head he lowered it again like a rebuked child.†   (source)
  • Imperceptibly, downright reasonably, he was moving out of 124.†   (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)
  • Almost imperceptibly, Jenny closed in on his flank.†   (source)
  • The old man nodded almost imperceptibility to the bartender.†   (source)
  • As I fidgeted and paced, they simply grew more still, two statues whose eyes followed me imperceptibly as I moved.†   (source)
  • Then he became still weaker, his face hollowed and darkened, his breathing became imperceptible.†   (source)
  • But slowly, imperceptibly, my reasons for staying changed.†   (source)
  • She gave a small, almost imperceptible nod, and took the milk I offered.†   (source)
  • The house seemed to be composed of a series of circular rooms that flowed, almost imperceptibly, into one another.†   (source)
  • And as we crossed the threshold, I could almost feel the house settle, as the climate inside had changed, almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • Was it coincidence that joy and power imperceptibly drained from my ministry?†   (source)
  • The rest of his body rocked almost imperceptibly inside his white shirt, marking time, keeping his rhythm.†   (source)
  • And slightly, almost imperceptibly, his hand moved.†   (source)
  • Jace flinched, almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • Riley gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head.†   (source)
  • The reactor plant noises, mainly from pumps that circulated the cooling water, were almost imperceptible.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • After the interview the Wennerström affair imperceptibly slipped from the financial section over to the desks of the crime reporters.†   (source)
  • The rise and fall of her chest slowed until it was imperceptible.†   (source)
  • Brittain glances at Mautz, who nods imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • Patch asked, directing an almost imperceptible nod at the foosball table.†   (source)
  • He returned her gaze, unflinching, and at last she nodded, a movement so slight as to be almost imperceptible.†   (source)
  • The slightest movement, almost imperceptible, before a hand ripped back the curtain.†   (source)
  • The tremor in my hand has become so normal, so nonstop, that it's generally imperceptible to me.†   (source)
  • We hear a faint electrical crackling, and a hint of life crosses the TV screen as it begins to flicker almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • These fantasies began as fantasies of love and soured imperceptibly into fantasies of violence and humiliation.†   (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)
  • It showed a kind of obscenity you see only in nature, an obscenity so extreme that it dissolves imperceptibly into beauty.†   (source)
  • Her shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • But then, almost imperceptibly at first, it began to lift up, then a little farther, and farther still.†   (source)
  • I push imperceptibly forward.†   (source)
  • A bigger house had been set on our roof and was imperceptibly pushing us into the ground.†   (source)
  • Snowden rejected the aspirin with an almost imperceptible shake of his head.†   (source)
  • I saw Helen at a distance and gave her a nearly imperceptible shake of the head.†   (source)
  • He offered a slight, almost imperceptible nod of encouragement before the mask of stoicism returned.†   (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)
  • My head dangles, my eyes are open but unfocused, my breathing imperceptible.†   (source)
  • An almost imperceptible sheen of anger flashed across the Winter King's features.†   (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)
  • I thought I saw her hand lift, if not imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • He began to edge his way over to it, knowing that Iggy would be able to follow the almost imperceptible sound.†   (source)
  • Or, in the small hours, with no life-threatening admissions, it could crawl imperceptibly toward morning.†   (source)
  • And eventually the dark peeled back layer by layer, and with imperceptible gradations the sky feathered to a delicate pale blue.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • The gradual change in direction was imperceptible in the rolling sea.†   (source)
  • With minuscule-nearly imperceptible-motions of his head, Cactus nodded in the affirmative.†   (source)
  • He then gave a quick, almost imperceptible nod and the two knights pushed the doomed man backward into the pit.†   (source)
  • The man's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly, then he stepped to his right.†   (source)
  • It wasn't as deliberate as deciding, at age six, to become an atheist, but more like an imperceptible sloughing of layers.†   (source)
  • "No," Rafi said as he began to climb, using an almost imperceptible handhold.†   (source)
  • The dark road had risen imperceptibly to the top of a hill.†   (source)
  • Now that they were focused on the mission, both Oscar and Cristian relaxed and made almost imperceptibly small movements with their joysticks.†   (source)
  • The demon followed the almost imperceptible crease in Drizzt's jerkin created by the long chain.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • Lee's head shifted slightly, imperceptibly; his eyes shifted.†   (source)
  • Personal property is such an invisible asset, it can be taxed only through the imperceptible agency of taxes on consumption.†   (source)
  • As imperceptibly as possible, Denny slid his phone from his pocket.†   (source)
  • And both times, upon slow-motion reexamination, his head turned almost imperceptibly toward the gorse bush at the base of the concrete power pole.†   (source)
  • The tide was reversing slowly, almost imperceptibly.†   (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)
  • For some imperceptible reason she was alarmed.†   (source)
  • The stove cooled gradually with almost imperceptible interior pops and puffings.†   (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 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)
  • Men had grown accustomed to Karellen's imperceptible rule-but they were becoming impatient to know who ruled them.†   (source)
  • Slowly, imperceptibly, the bush boy dropped behind; edging ever closer to the foolish birds.†   (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)
  • There loomed an imperceptible, a terrifying border-line.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • I nod almost imperceptibly in thanks to her, because if he won't acknowledge it, I will.†   (source)
  • I catch her eyes widen almost imperceptibly with the initial shock of pain before they narrow again.†   (source)
  • Her breath hitches almost imperceptibly at the contact, before she swats my hand away and I drop the shirt.†   (source)
  • Imperceptibly over time.†   (source)
  • She shook her head almost imperceptibly, then resumed her own deadpan stare at the opposite wall.†   (source)
  • As she took her first sip, an almost imperceptible wince crossed her face.†   (source)
  • She nodded almost imperceptibly and then opened her mouth, but Snape forestalled her.†   (source)
  • Tonight the wood filled the room with the almost imperceptible aroma of citrus and quenching iron.†   (source)
  • The change was imperceptible, but Clara noticed it.†   (source)
  • It happened quickly, yet by imperceptible degrees.†   (source)
  • He gave a little shake of the head, almost imperceptible.†   (source)
  • A slight limp causes Ashoke's right foot to drag almost imperceptibly with each step.†   (source)
  • The pendulum on the clock began to move almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • Whatever air was coming through the slit seemed imperceptible.†   (source)
  • "Thirteen," said Sol after an imperceptible pause.†   (source)
  • Finally she shakes her head, an almost imperceptible movement, shooting me a sad smile.†   (source)
  • Wang noticed that her eyes dimmed almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • A few seconds later an almost imperceptible noise began as the reactor plant increased power.†   (source)
  • He smiled almost imperceptibly and moved on.†   (source)
  • Jaime leaned over the body looking for some imperceptible heartbeat, but there was none.†   (source)
  • The gray day was dimming almost imperceptibly into night.†   (source)
  • Kote shrugged nonchalantly, his smile fading an imperceptible amount.†   (source)
  • He gives an almost imperceptible shake of his head.†   (source)
  • He could not bear the way she stared at him and he lowered his head imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • "Fair enough," she said at last with an almost imperceptible nod.†   (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)
  • 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)
  • There was an almost imperceptible pause.†   (source)
  • The drop in his strength that followed was almost imperceptible.†   (source)
  • He scooted imperceptibly closer on the couch.†   (source)
  • With an almost imperceptible nod, Umbra stood aside.†   (source)
  • Usually he sat totally still except for his head bobbing, slowly and almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • Clary felt Jace's hand tighten on hers, a nearly imperceptible pressure.†   (source)
  • Slowly, like Indian summer moving imperceptibly toward fall, he looks toward her.†   (source)
  • A young boy, perhaps thirteen, and his girl crossed the street a block up, pausing imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • The Cartographer's head lifted almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • We take two more turns, each turn lightening the shadows almost imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • One hand slipped almost imperceptibly out of her flowing robes and reached toward mine.†   (source)
  • And then, almost imperceptibly at first, they began to slow.†   (source)
  • His lips twitched, 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)
  • A fan turned almost imperceptibly against the stained acoustic tiles on the ceiling.†   (source)
  • At last, as if by some imperceptible signal, the party came to an end.†   (source)
  • The gunmen steadied their aim by an almost imperceptible movement.†   (source)
  • Her lips move imperceptibly as she breathes her prayers.†   (source)
  • I met Christian Gallagher's gaze and he nodded imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • She moved her head imperceptibly to let it touch his shoulder for a moment.†   (source)
  • He nods his head almost imperceptibly toward the group.†   (source)
  • His tub-thumping piano playing changed imperceptibly.†   (source)
  • But no. She shook her head, an imperceptible, forgiving shrug.†   (source)
  • But the change was so slight, so imperceptible, I did not sense the shift.†   (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)
  • Almost imperceptibly, at the beginning of November, the marsh began to change its color.†   (source)
  • But the Institute changed me, slowly, imperceptibly, as any good college would.†   (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)
  • As it turned out, the door was indeed marked, but its engraving was so faded, it was almost imperceptible.†   (source)
  • Almost imperceptibly, he inched closer, and Cinder found her elbow crawling up his shoulder in a way that felt impossibly natural.†   (source)
  • Finally, they saw what they were looking for: when Mary's doctor asked her about her plans for the future, a look of utter despair flashed across her face so quickly that it was almost imperceptible.†   (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)
  • Mr. Curtain's chair had been rolling closer, slowly, almost imperceptibly, so that now their faces were very near to each other.†   (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)
  • But that day she began to realize something that no one had noticed and it was that with the passage of the year the sun imperceptibly changed position and those who sat on the porch had to change their position little by little without being aware of it.†   (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)
  • Long after, bruised and robbed and embittered beyond my wildest dreams, I sifted through those moments, those drowsy quiet early-hour moments when the clock ticked almost imperceptibly on the mantelpiece, and the sky grew paler and paler; and all I could remember-despite the desperation with which I lengthened and fixed that time, in which I held out my hands to stop the clock-all I could remember was the soft changing of tight.†   (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)
  • The table began to shake almost imperceptibly, the black liquid in the wine glasses gently sloshing from side to side.†   (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)
  • The quartermaster sighed imperceptibly.†   (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)
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