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decisive
in a sentence
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show 10 more with this conextual meaning
  • She took decisive action to turn her life around.
  • In the end, it is character that is the decisive factor in a person's life.
  • Tonight, they play the decisive game seven of the series.
  • That piece of evidence had proved decisive against Williams in both trials, despite everything the defense had done to explain it.   (source)
    decisive = conclusive in settling a matter
  • "Okay then, I'll pick you up, no problem," Mom said decisively, sweeping the half-grapes into a snack bag with the side of her knife.   (source)
    decisively = in a manner that ends any question about something
  • Something had to be done, something decisive—he couldn't spend the rest of the school year hiding from Dana Matherson and Beatrice Leep.   (source)
    decisive = conclusive in settling a matter
  • Thanks to auxiliary fuel tanks and slender, ultraefficient Davis wings, it could fly literally all day, a decisive asset in the sprawling World War II theaters.   (source)
    decisive = determining an outcome
  • "Just the same, we got to get you home again, Winnie," said Tuck, standing up decisively.   (source)
    decisively = in a way that ends any question about something
  • Paul turned decisively back to his repair job.   (source)
    decisively = in the manner of someone who ended questioning about something
  • The book is broken up into eight chapters, corresponding to eight years that had a decisive impact on our respective lives.   (source)
    decisive = determining an outcome
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  • Apparently, there had been a brief and decisive skirmish and I'd just missed it.   (source)
    decisive = conclusive in settling a matter
  • Brinker for example had begun a long, decisive sequence of withdrawals from school activity ever since the morning I deserted his enlistment plan.   (source)
    decisive = determining an outcome
  • But here again, Curtis played a decisive role in my life.   (source)
    decisive = important (determining an outcome)
  • I nod decisively, at the last minute softening the gesture with a tilt of my head.   (source)
    decisively = in a manner that ends any question about something
  • The decisive factor is how you take apart your adversary's system.   (source)
    decisive = determining an outcome
  • Future generations must know how quickly the Clave lost, and how decisive our victory was.   (source)
    decisive = conclusive in settling a matter
  • But as resounding as the British victory had been, it was not a decisive victory.   (source)
  • "The Athenaeum takes only its own, and we are not its own," Father says decisively.   (source)
    decisively = in a way that ends any question about something
  • No decision he makes at Gettysburg will be decisive, except perhaps the last.   (source)
    decisive = conclusive in settling a matter
  • It does not matter whether the war is actually happening, and, since no decisive victory is possible, it does not matter whether the war is going well or badly.   (source)
    decisive = final (settling the outcome)
  • Vera said decisively: "Not at all."   (source)
    decisively = in a manner that ends any question about something
  • The telephone rang inside, startlingly, and as Daisy shook her head decisively at Tom the subject of the stables, in fact all subjects, vanished into air.   (source)
  • "That evidence," he observed, "was hardly required in so glaring a case, but I am glad of it, and, indeed, none of our judges like to condemn a criminal upon circumstantial evidence, be it ever so decisive."   (source)
    decisive = conclusive in settling a matter
  • 'Yeah, it does,' said Tonks decisively.†   (source)
  • "They should be ripped out by their roots," Mrs. White said decisively.†   (source)
  • It hesitated for a moment, wobbling there on the edge of oblivion, and then pitched decisively forward and fell, tumbling end over end in beautiful balletic slow-motion.†   (source)
  • To spare the quail the pain she felt, Tita moved sharply and decisively, finishing him off as an act of mercy.†   (source)
  • "Because," I said decisively, "there's no way I'm letting Celeste do better than me."†   (source)
  • "Well, I want you on it," he says decisively.†   (source)
  • "He broke your mother's heart," said Boris decisively.†   (source)
  • ALBUS turns decisively.†   (source)
  • "You," she said decisively, "are coming out to the lake with me for the afternoon."†   (source)
  • The report closed, "If we are not to be disgraced before the public as business-men, this matter must be followed up sharply and decisively."†   (source)
  • When it happened, it happened fast, decisively.†   (source)
  • There have to be, Sophie said decisively.†   (source)
  • "Greenwood," the maid said decisively as the nurse came in.†   (source)
  • The results of the test, to the dismay of Osprey's sheriff as well as Alvin Dewey, who does not believe in exceptional coincidences, were decisively negative.†   (source)
  • 'We're together,' Patrick said decisively.†   (source)
  • It had moved quickly, decisively, and by an unknown route.†   (source)
  • After losing decisively in gin rummy, Theresa went inside to start one of the books she'd brought with her.†   (source)
  • We haven't spoken much of the Volturi agenda, but Alistair worried that no matter how decisively we can prove your innocence, the Volturi will not listen.†   (source)
  • It was still possible, if he acted decisively.†   (source)
  • First he watched, then he advised, gesturing, speaking a studied broken English that the young men might grasp, and then he moved decisively in, handing his jacket to someone and redirecting the length of string and taking the trowel and setting the bricks in courses and leveling the grout, working quickly, and I didn't know he could do this kind of work and I don't think my mother knew it either.†   (source)
  • It acts quickly and decisively.†   (source)
  • But the effects of prolonged exposure to high altitude had sapped Mortenson of the ability to act and think decisively.†   (source)
  • Just decisively.†   (source)
  • For, confused as I was, I was certain someone else had come between us, someone who was battling him decisively, forcing him to relinquish his hold.†   (source)
  • Colonel Korn acted decisively to arrest what seemed to him to be the beginning of an unwholesome trend in Major Major's squadron.†   (source)
  • Finally Angel nodded her head decisively and nudged Total off her feet to come stand next to me.†   (source)
  • She had cut him out of her life as surgically and decisively as she deleted files from her computer, and without explanation.†   (source)
  • 'Yes,' she said decisively.†   (source)
  • "No," said Scathach decisively.†   (source)
  • He leaned forward across the desk, reluctant to end the interview and to end it so decisively.†   (source)
  • "I was never engaged to Jonathan," she began furiously, then decisively bit her tongue.†   (source)
  • Then Morris said decisively, "A golem, if you ask me.†   (source)
  • Then she turns back, sits decisively, and writes again, as the lights dim on her.†   (source)
  • Decisively.†   (source)
  • He nodded, then seemed unsure, then, decisively, nodded again.†   (source)
  • Two factors had a decisive influence.
    decisive = determining an outcome
  • They rested a minute on the open window, then he shook his head decisively.   (source)
    decisively = in the manner of someone who ended questioning about something
  • It seemed to him that it was only now, when he had begun to be able to formulate his thoughts, that he had taken the decisive step.   (source)
    decisive = determining an outcome; or ending question; or describing something as unmistakable
  • To mark the paper was the decisive act.   (source)
  • All three powers merely continue to produce atomic bombs and store them up against the decisive opportunity which they all believe will come sooner or later.   (source)
  • To understand the nature of the present war — for in spite of the regrouping which occurs every few years, it is always the same war — one must realize in the first place that it is impossible for it to be decisive.   (source)
  • "I know nothing whatever about mechanics," he said decisively.   (source)
    decisively = in a manner that ends any question about something
  • "Never heard of them," he remarked decisively.   (source)
  • The only certainty to be drawn from it was, that nothing decisive had yet taken place.   (source)
    decisive = final (settling the outcome)
  • This was enough to determine Sir Thomas; and a decisive "then so it shall be" closed that stage of the business;   (source)
    decisive = ending discussion of other ideas
  • One sudden and desolating change had taken place; but a thousand little circumstances might have by degrees worked other alterations, which, although they were done more tranquilly, might not be the less decisive.   (source)
    decisive = conclusive in settling a matter
  • Had she doubted his meaning while she listened, the glow in his face, when she looked up at him, would have been decisive.   (source)
    decisive = ending any question
  • "The plan is pretty simple," Aspen said decisively.†   (source)
  • He steps decisively away from the dementor.†   (source)
  • Suddenly, decisively, Maxon faced me, taking my hands in his.†   (source)
  • 'Right, we're leaving that room,' said Hermione decisively.†   (source)
  • "Then you must ask her, straight out," said Boris decisively.†   (source)
  • Yes," she said decisively, to Platt, as if the matter had been settled, folding her hands.†   (source)
  • "Go find him and apologize," Lissa said decisively.†   (source)
  • I don't want to do it," she said decisively.†   (source)
  • Then he walked decisively back to Zalachenko's room and closed the door.†   (source)
  • "I hate her," Scarlett said decisively through a mouthful of ice.†   (source)
  • You're Max McDaniels," he said decisively.†   (source)
  • He stopped and turned to see the Agent pointing decisively at Middlemarch.†   (source)
  • He had begun to think that the Army might have to act decisively to put out this fire.†   (source)
  • She tried the knocker again, more decisively.†   (source)
  • 'No,' I said decisively, we couldn't do that.'†   (source)
  • "Any verdict regarding Yuri Vilyak will have to wait," said Miss Kraken decisively.†   (source)
  • "It is beautiful that you saw her again," said Lucia decisively.†   (source)
  • "I feel bad for her," said David decisively.†   (source)
  • Frowning, Max stepped decisively over to the cauldron and reached inside for the Spear of Lugh.†   (source)
  • SCORPIUS steps forward decisively.†   (source)
  • The real Max McDaniels is ten feet tall— "And when he roars, the mountains shake," chimed Valya decisively.†   (source)
  • They fulfill that duty decisively.†   (source)
  • Iona cut another bite, decisively.†   (source)
  • "Bryn," she said decisively.†   (source)
  • Devoted to chess, eager to try his skill with some of the expert players of Paris, Jefferson found his way to a chess club, but was so decisively beaten in several games that he never went back.†   (source)
  • And the patisserie should have been"—the Agent gazed around and then turned on his heel to point decisively at a thick grove of ash trees—"there.†   (source)
  • Yes, three," Bonnie said decisively, "because I was still nursing Carter, my youngest, and he's currently terrorizing everyone at nursery school.†   (source)
  • He spoke little, but when he did, it was to snap decisively, with a contemptuous grin, "Pipe down, Jimmy!" or, "Nuts, Wes, you're talking through your hat!"†   (source)
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  • We need a decisive leader who can act quickly without losing time in consultation.
    decisive = able to make quick decisions
  • It was actually quite fortunate that they saw Frau Holtzapfel coming from the living room window, for her knuckles on the door were hard and decisive.   (source)
    decisive = firm
  • Their decisive movements showed they knew exactly where to go and what they were looking for.   (source)
    decisive = ability to make quick decisions
  • This is a moment for him to show his decisiveness, and allowing the Selection to drag on doesn't look good.   (source)
    decisiveness = the quality of making quick decisions and sticking by them
  • She did this decisively, one jab and one grind, not the series of genteel taps favored by many of the Wives.   (source)
    decisively = without hesitation
  • As he pushed down, the raised circle on the box slid into the ring's opening, and there was a faint but decisive click.   (source)
    decisive = firm
  • One thing I was decisive about.   (source)
    decisive = indicating a firm decision
  • The war games required them to make decisive, rapid-fire decisions under conditions of high pressure and with limited information, which is, of course, what they did all day at work.   (source)
    decisive = without hesitation
  • "It's almost time to go back," she says, closing the watch with a decisive snap.   (source)
    decisive = firm
  • The King was praised for his resolution to uphold the interests and honor of the kingdom, praised for his decisiveness.   (source)
    decisiveness = the quality of making quick decisions and sticking by them
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  • He was by nature a decisive man, and although this was one of the great decisions of his life and he knew it, he made it quickly and did not agonize over it.   (source)
    decisive = making quick decisions and sticking by them
  • His tone grew decisive.   (source)
    decisive = indicating a firm decision
  • Vida was soothing but decisive: "My dear, you're all off."   (source)
    decisive = firm
  • Patria closed her purse with a decisive snap. "Let's just go."   (source)
    decisive = indicating a firm decision
  • She sat paralyzed on the bed for fifteen minutes before springing up, suddenly decisive.   (source)
    decisive = in a manner characterized by making a firm decision
  • You need to be strong, decisive.   (source)
    decisive = making quick decisions and sticking by them
  • Accident may put a decisive blunder in the right, but eternal defeat and miscarriage must attend the men of the best parts if cursed with indecision.   (source)
    decisive = from a quick, firm decision
  • She was not, she worried, strong enough to endure the routine, and she could not picture herself standing before grinning children and pretending to be wise and decisive.   (source)
    decisive = able to make quick, firm decisions
  • He tried to get witnesses; Westlake spread lies; his friends doubted him; his self-confidence was so broken that it was horrible to see the indecision of the decisive man; he was convicted, handcuffed, taken on a train——   (source)
    decisive = making quick decisions and sticking by them
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show 10 more examples with any meaning
  • The right-hand one, commissioned by my Grandmother Adelia, is of Colonel Parkman, a veteran of the last decisive battle fought in the American Revolution, that of Fort Ticonderoga, now in New York State.†   (source)
  • There was never a clear boundary, never a decisive moment to which Edgar could object.†   (source)
  • If we don't take decisive measures and cleanse the traitors and enemies within, we will lose everything!"†   (source)
  • The decisive factor.†   (source)
  • I watched the men in the hallway; they had clearly been expecting the officer to do something more decisive and effective.†   (source)
  • A more decisive and forceful personality than Cornelius.†   (source)
  • I acted more decisive and made rules.†   (source)
  • REPUBLIC WINS DECISIVE VICTORY AGAINST COLONIES IN MADISON, DAKOTA.†   (source)
  • This is your one last good chance to show what we can do when we're decisive and determined.†   (source)
  • When it came to dealing with threats to the country, he had to be decisive, cold.†   (source)
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  • Zaphod tried to run in several equally decisive directions simultaneously.†   (source)
  • A small reserve, held back until the end of the game, can be decisive.†   (source)
  • Might be the decisive moment.†   (source)
  • He pulled a red and blue bandanna from his back pocket, blew his nose with a decisive honk, and thrust it back out of sight after a short peek into it to see if he had gotten anything interesting.†   (source)
  • The attack must have been swift and decisive, else Arya would have escaped.†   (source)
  • "We'd better get cracking," said Bruce, trying to sound decisive, but his mouth was dry.†   (source)
  • She was calm, organized, and decisive.†   (source)
  • It was not necessarily even the decisive moment.†   (source)
  • Burnham was decisive, blunt, and cordial; he spoke under a level blue gaze that Olmsted found reassuring.†   (source)
  • You need help to send the right message—the message being that you're sensitive, intuitive, decisive, you have good taste and you're perfect."†   (source)
  • Today the influence of flavor in the world marketplace is no less decisive.†   (source)
  • With an air of weary decisiveness, I opened the window, took the binoculars and climbed onto the ledge.†   (source)
  • To be worthwhile, any such conference would have to be of sufficient weight so that it could have a decisive effect on the 'official' international conferences several of which had already taken place with the express purpose of reviewing the treaty, but which had succeeded in producing only confusion and bitterness: Our Prime Minister of that time, Mr Lloyd George, had called for another great conference to be held in Italy in the spring of 1922, and initially his lordship's aim was…†   (source)
  • This was the decisive clue, because he had not failed to take Communion on an important feast day since he had made his first Communion, at the age of eight.†   (source)
  • A decisive factor in Lyell's theory was the age of the earth.†   (source)
  • She was a competent midwife and decisive diagnostician.†   (source)
  • After all the decisive victories of the day my life was to end in sticky death.†   (source)
  • Then he went on with new decisiveness.†   (source)
  • "I think something decisive will happen in the spring," he said.†   (source)
  • Not that Perry really considered it a smiling matter, for Dick, flourishing a dangerous weapon, could have played a decisive role in plans he himself was forming.†   (source)
  • They're going to do another selection today … a decisive selection.†   (source)
  • In reality, Ebola had not yet made a decisive, irreversible breakthrough into the human race, but it seemed close to doing that.†   (source)
  • Finally, in a decisive gesture, he gets up, and, in mingled joy and desperation, picks up the money.†   (source)
  • It disappeared into the veins of the ship with a decisive thunk.†   (source)
  • If both races were agreed upon, Belmont's race would be of far less interest, especially if the first event proved decisive.†   (source)
  • But the ants continued to appear and multiply, daily growing more impudent and more decisive.†   (source)
  • Alongside 'Bologna (bomb line moved on map during)' 'Food poisoning (during Bologna)' and 'Moaning (epidemic of during Avignon briefing)' he wrote in a bold, decisive hand: ?†   (source)
  • Mr. White took a decisive step toward him.†   (source)
  • Descartes took a decisive step forward: he made manmaitre et proprietaire de la nature.†   (source)
  • In the operating room, Deepak was patient, forceful, brilliant, creative, painstaking, and decisive—a true artisan.†   (source)
  • The Etzion area in the Hebron Mountains fell, the Jordanian Army attacked Jerusalem, the Iraqi Army invaded the Jordan Valley, the Egyptian Army invaded the Negev, and the battle for Latrun, the decisive point along the road to Jerusalem, turned into a bloodbath.†   (source)
  • In a flash, Simeon knew there would be a fight, and in these situations he had learned that it was best to draw first blood, to land the initial and maybe decisive blow.†   (source)
  • With every out, the Owensboro hitters were well aware of their diminishing chances, and each faced Angel with a growing sense of urgency and determination to strike a decisive blow.†   (source)
  • This time he had to deal a decisive and final blow to any living soul who would pretend to be her father.†   (source)
  • If nothing else, he was decisive—they both were.†   (source)
  • What courage it must have taken, she thought, in that final, decisive moment.†   (source)
  • El Líder's pistol, pressing it to his temple, squeezing the trigger until he hears the decisive click.†   (source)
  • But his most decisive blows were the four attacks on September 11, 2001.†   (source)
  • Her patterns became less harsh and decisive.†   (source)
  • "Let's just back up for a minute," I said; feeling angry made it so much easier to be clear, decisive.†   (source)
  • Then she stood and crossed the room with a decisive step that didn't match her finery.†   (source)
  • There were three more knocks, quick and decisive.†   (source)
  • They were 13-0 with a decisive win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl to close out their season.†   (source)
  • "Okay, no. Just no." With a decisive move he snapped the phone in half.†   (source)
  • Meeting followed meeting, with Kennedy expected to be not just in attendance, but also knowledgeable about and decisive on each of the many varied subjects presented to him.†   (source)
  • We can never tell when one such issue may he decided and what may be the decisive factor in a delicate balance.†   (source)
  • She began to write in a decisive hand.†   (source)
  • Suddenly ELESIN flings one arm round his neck, once, and with the loop of the chain, strangles himself in a swift, decisive pull.†   (source)
  • THOUGH WHEN he sat on a campaign chair his legs didn't reach the floor, Colonel Pietro Insana was a man of great decisiveness.†   (source)
  • In any case, the decline of morale proved short-lived, for the Union armies did not fall apart and soon won some of their most decisive victories of the war.†   (source)
  • Our own experience is explicit and decisive.†   (source)
  • All that he had to do was delay the wizard from taking any decisive actions for the next few moments.†   (source)
  • I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour.†   (source)
  • He did this, he knew; he dispensed with things, trying to be like other people — decisive, practical — only to discover he'd overdone it.†   (source)
  • It is difficult at times to repress the thought that history is about as instructive as an abattoir; that Tacitus was right and that peace is merely the desolation left behind after the decisive operations of merciless power.†   (source)
  • If they used every one of those minutes with maximum efficiency, retaliation could be decisive.†   (source)
  • I realize now that I arrived at a mysteriously decisive moment.†   (source)
  • Anybody can be decisive during a panic; it takes a strong man to act during a boom.†   (source)
  • In all Pasha's life there had not been a change in him so decisive and abrupt as in the course of this night.†   (source)
  • Mr. Calhoun's clear and powerful exposition would have had something of a decisive effect if it had not been so soon followed by Mr. Webster's masterly playing.†   (source)
  • It was Alexander who won the final, decisive victory over the Persians.†   (source)
  • He had to have discipline, and that meant demanding. and getting. quick, decisive obedience.†   (source)
  • Material factors of that nature have certainly been decisive for historical development.†   (source)
  • We find decisive diffrences between the two, not least in their writing.†   (source)
  • I refer to the natural philosophers and their decisive break with the mytholog-ical world picture.†   (source)
  • The plan was to his liking: swift, decisive, and unexpected.†   (source)
  • He wished that the decisive Fredrik was still there.†   (source)
  • "Our cause being almost lost, something decisive and great must be done," he tells himself.†   (source)
  • So soon we are going to win the decisive victory, Your Majesty, and glorify your name.†   (source)
  • He did everything with direct and decisive movements, in contrast to his languid look.†   (source)
  • The clap was a term with a very decisive ring to it.†   (source)
  • One man can be more decisive, keep secrets, and act faster than any greater number of people.†   (source)
  • Decisive moment meant exactly that, all or nothing.†   (source)
  • For that to happen, we have to be decisive and resort to tough measures.†   (source)
  • And they are overbalanced by certain and decisive disadvantages.†   (source)
  • Bryan locked the door behind him with a decisive click.†   (source)
  • It depends on how decisive you can be in the Section these days.†   (source)
  • It was, he could tell himself, what was known in the trade as a decisive moment.†   (source)
  • However, a voice responded at once, a crisp, decisive voice that sounded as though it were reading a prepared statement.†   (source)
  • In a jumble of Spanish and Curacao patois, he explained to Florentino Ariza that the man in evening dress was the new plenipotentiary from England, on his way to the capital of the Republic; he reminded him of how that kingdom had provided us with decisive resources in our struggle for independence from Spanish rule, and that as a consequence no sacrifice was too great if it would allow a family of such distinction to feel more at home in our country than in their own.†   (source)
  • As in Colorado Springs, the huge influx of white, middle-class voters from southern California has played a decisive role in the Rocky Mountain West's shift to the right.†   (source)
  • How is a soldier expected to prevail on the field of battle, the Count wondered, if he cannot be decisive about ascending to an upper floor?†   (source)
  • We need a decisive act that will completely suffocate science on Earth and freeze it at its current level.†   (source)
  • For however decisive the Bolsheviks' victory had been over the privileged classes on behalf of the Proletariat, they would be having banquets soon enough.†   (source)
  • Stymied at the very instant of decisive action, the general expressed his exasperation with the fecklessness of civilians, walked into the prelate's apartment, and tossed the goose out the window.†   (source)
  • Despite the fact that the cat had a decisive lead and knew every nook and cranny of the hotel's upper floors, once the dogs regained their footing, they charged across the lobby in full chorus with every intention of mounting the stairs.†   (source)
  • The expedition's many forays into the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific west of South America were of decisive significance as well.†   (source)
  • There were many heads of state who dared not go to war or take other decisive steps until they had consulted the oracle at Delphi.†   (source)
  • But—and here Kant stretches his hand out to the rationalists—in our reason there are also decisive factors that determine how we perceive the world around us.†   (source)
  • There is a decisive difference between a living and a nonliving thing, for example a rose and a stone, just as there is a decisive difference between a plant and an animal, for example a rose and ahorse.†   (source)
  • Charles is suddenly all-decisive.†   (source)
  • It is time for decisive action.†   (source)
  • After Salander's nighttime visit to his apartment he had felt paralyzed—virtually incapable of clear thought or decisive action.†   (source)
  • When Tomas first positioned his scalpel on the skin of a man asleep under an anesthetic, then breached the skin with a decisive incision, and finally cut it open with a precise and even stroke (as if it were a piece of fabrica coat, a skirt, a curtain), he experienced a brief but intense feeling of blasphemy.†   (source)
  • At the decisive Battle of Five Forks, General Phil Sheridan and 45,000 men capture a pivotal crossing, cutting off the main road to North Carolina, handing General George Pickett his second disastrous loss of the war—the first coming at Gettysburg, and the infamous ill-fated charge that bears his name.†   (source)
  • It slid within troughs, righted itself; and generally presented a narrow profile to the waves, which were never able to land a decisive blow.†   (source)
  • On April 6, in another decisive step, Congress opened American ports to the trade of all nations except Britain.†   (source)
  • She was competent, decisive, self-reliant; perhaps she intimidated them, for before long they drifted their attentions elsewhere.†   (source)
  • Camelot's demise could have originated during the Cuban missile crisis, when JFK scored a decisive public relations victory over Nikita Khrushchev and the Soviet Empire, while at the same time frustrating his top generals and what Dwight Eisenhower called "the military-industrial complex" for refusing to launch a war.†   (source)
  • He had to take several deep breaths to steady himself, for this was the final and most decisive test of his skill.†   (source)
  • He wrote his reminder to himself in a heavy and decisive hand, amplifying it sharply with a series of coded punctuation marks and underlining the whole message twice, so that it read: Yossarian!†   (source)
  • In the High District there was no alarm at the first partial returns from the provinces, which favored the left, because everyone knew that it was the votes from the capital that would be decisive.†   (source)
  • There was another decisive snap and Max lost his grip on the handrails, landing on his back with a painful thud.†   (source)
  • What made us different was our experience level and knowing when to take violent, decisive action and when to be patient and quiet.†   (source)
  • It was then that he thought of the decisive step, not only for the modernization of his business but to link the town with the rest of the world.†   (source)
  • Miss Boon strode forward and muttered a sharp word of command coupled with a decisive sweep of her arm.†   (source)
  • Then, too, the severity of Dick's "wake-up" speech, the belligerence with which he proclaimed his theretofore concealed opinion of Perry's dreams and hopes-all this, perversity being what it is, appealed to Perry, hurt and shocked him but charmed him, almost revived his former faith in the tough, the "totally masculine," the pragmatic, the decisive Dick he'd once allowed to boss him.†   (source)
  • A bullish, handsome man with decisive eyebrows and more hair than he could find use for, Lin had a great deal of money and a habit of having things go his way.†   (source)
  • They chose to return, as if they had no choice, and what struck Alessandro above all was the consummate and decisive beauty of their fall.†   (source)
  • The decisive difference was revealed in the midst of the war, when Jose Arcadio Segundo asked Colonel Gerineldo Marquez to let him see an execution.†   (source)
  • He was elated and took untold satisfaction from the knowledge that French sea power after all had proved decisive.†   (source)
  • And let us help a young man toward an ethical strength that makes him decisive, that shows him precisely who he is, Shay, and how he is meant to address the world.†   (source)
  • Enough spokesmen remained suspicious of their rivals and were willing to accept Kemp's explanation to prevent Cassius from bringing the council to decisive action.†   (source)
  • They needed her defences: the crust of independence and indifference: the air of practical, decisive reliability; the unroused interest, the aloof manner.†   (source)
  • In the haze of convalescence, surrounded by Remedios' dusty dolls, Colonel Aureliano Buendia, brought back the decisive periods of his existence by reading his poetry.†   (source)
  • And as this is most certainly our case, why not proclaim to the world in decisive terms our own importance?†   (source)
  • Might he be less willing to take decisive actions that could make personal enemies, when he knows that very soon he will be just a citizen?†   (source)
  • He tilted his chin in high rebuke, mostly theatrical, and withdrew his body from the surface of the desk, dropping his bottom into the swivel chair and looking at me again and then doing a decisive quarter turn and raising his right leg sufficiently so that the foot, the shoe, was posted upright at the edge of the desk.†   (source)
  • If we compare the number of State-appointed militia officers with the military and navy officers in a permanent federal military, the States have a decisive advantage.†   (source)
  • At The Hague, as Adams came to understand, there was little sympathy for the American cause, nor much hope for decisive action.†   (source)
  • Indeed, Adams's insistence on American naval strength proved decisive in achieving peace with France in 1800.†   (source)
  • Having consulted no one, and without advice from Abigail, he took the most decisive action of his presidency.†   (source)
  • Had the news of the peace agreement at Mortefontaine arrived a few weeks sooner, it, too, could very well have been decisive for Adams.†   (source)
  • Samuel Adams, to whom the Declaration was "the decisive measure," wished only that it had come sooner.†   (source)
  • That Adams valued and trusted her judgment ahead of that of any of his departmentheads there is no question, and she could well have been decisive in persuading Adams to support the Sedition Act.†   (source)
  • When Washington requested of France that Genet be recalled, Adams, with a father's pride, was certain that John Quincy's essays had played a decisive part.†   (source)
  • No matter that the Dutch Republic was one of the "lesser theaters" of Europe, or that other events in which he had played a decisive part would rank higher in the balance.†   (source)
  • Nor, importantly, was her influence always decisive, as shown by his choice of Elbridge Gerry as an envoy to France and, most importantly, his continued reluctance to declare war.†   (source)
  • Nor is it possible to know the extent of Jefferson's disappointment, or if the opposition of South Carolina and Georgia was truly as decisive as he later claimed.†   (source)
  • John Marshall had said much the same thing, and so had John Quincy in some of his correspondence with his father, but as Adams was to write, the assurances of Gerry—"my own ambassador"—were "more positive, more explicit, and decisive."†   (source)
  • It was as decisive a defeat of the British as Saratoga and made possible by the arrival of Admiral de Grasse with the French West Indies fleet of twenty-eight ships of the line at exactly the right place at exactly the right time.†   (source)
  • When Elizabeth Shaw wrote that as agreeable as John Quincy might be in company, he could be in private conversation "a little too decisive and tenacious" in his opinions, Abigail responded with a strong letter of motherly advice to the young man.†   (source)
  • At Ghent the same month, the American commissioners led by John Quincy Adams signed a peace treaty with Britain, news that would not reach the United States until February, by which time Americans under General Andrew Jackson had won a decisive victory, on January 15, at the battle of New Orleans.†   (source)
  • All but speechless with pleasure, Adams heard the Spanish ambassador praise him for his determination and spirit, saying he had "struck the greatest blow that has been struck in the American cause, and the most decisive.†   (source)
  • As the author of the Summary View, the young Virginian had, as Adams said, achieved "the reputation of a masterly pen," and however reticent in Congress, he proved "prompt, frank, explicit, and decisive upon committees and in conversation…… " That Jefferson, after attending the College of William and Mary, had read law at Williamsburg for five years with the eminent George Wythe, gave him still greater standing with Adams, who considered Wythe one of the ablest men in Congress.†   (source)
  • His understanding lies, I think, rather in seeing large things largely than correctly…… In the conduct of affairs he may perhaps be able to take so comprehensive a view as to render invention and expedient unnecessary, but were they to become necessary, I think he would fail in these—and I am not clear as to the first, or whether much of his reputation may not arise from a very firm and decisive tone suited to the times, with a clear and perspicuous elocution.†   (source)
  • Some showed courage throughout the whole of their political lives; others sailed with the wind until the decisive moment when their conscience, and events, propelled them into the center of the storm.†   (source)
  • With a feeling of decisive, final negation that was almost like panic within me, I wanted to hear no more about Auschwitz, not another word.†   (source)
  • The decisive consideration is not whether the proposition is good but whether it is popular—not whether it will work well and prove itself but whether the active talking constituents like it immediately.†   (source)
  • Obeying her father to the end, Sophie together with Kazik did spread the pamphlet around in the university hallways, but it turned out to be a decisive flop.†   (source)
  • Her decisiveness seemed to drive the others into action.†   (source)
  • But the decisiveness of her message shook him to his very marrow, and when he walked into the cool shadows of the drawing room he did not have time to think about the miracle he was experiencing because his intestines suddenly filled in an explosion of painful foam.†   (source)
  • "Tomorrow," said the ogre with gruff decisiveness, glancing pointedly at one of the attending moomenhovens.†   (source)
  • It was on the same afternoon, at the mills, that he saw the Wet Nurse hurrying toward him-a gangling, coltish figure with a peculiar mixture of brusqueness, awkwardness and decisiveness.†   (source)
  • The rooms were bare and crudely simple, the house seemed built with the skill, the decisiveness and the impatience typical of Francisco; it looked like a frontiersman's shanty thrown together to serve as a mere springboard for a long flight into the future-a future where so great a field of activity lay waiting that no time could be wasted on the comfort of its start.†   (source)
  • The people involved in treaty negotiations need several characteristics: knowledge of foreign politics, stable views of the national character, decisiveness, secrecy, and speed.†   (source)
  • But his voice was calm and decisive as he called to her.†   (source)
  • Suddenly with a brief decisive nod of the head he crossed the room to a desk near the window.†   (source)
  • It didn't carry any suggestion of the nice, clean, decisive, well-healed surgical wound.†   (source)
  • Her words were hopeless too, but they were decisive enough, determined enough.†   (source)
  • Neville with his clean and decisive ways has finished.†   (source)
  • We could not enforce the decisive blockade or interruption which is possible from surface vessels.†   (source)
  • It just so happened that I chose the field that interests you—the field of art—because I thought that it focused the decisive factors in the task we had to accomplish.†   (source)
  • The voice was shrill and decisive.†   (source)
  • Bigger watched Jack closely" he knew that the situation was one in which Jack's word would be decisive.†   (source)
  • A world organization has already been erected for the prime purpose of preventing war, UNO, the successor of the League of Nations, with the decisive addition of the United States and all that means, is already at work.†   (source)
  • When told of some unlooked-for recovery, they made a show of interest, but actually received the news with the stolid indifference that we may imagine the fighting man in a great war to feel who, worn out by the incessant strain and mindful only of the duties daily assigned to him, has ceased even to hope for the decisive battle or the buglecall of armistice.†   (source)
  • 53 Among the Arunta, for example, the sound of the bull-roarers is heard from all sides when the moment has arrived for this decisive break from the past.†   (source)
  • When she used her beautifully shaped but worn-looking hands, she used them with surety, whether it was to put a broken flower into a tumbler of water with one true gesture, or to wring out a scrub cloth with one decisive motion--the right hand turning in, and the left out, simultaneously.†   (source)
  • In all my wishing for a job I had not thought of how I would be treated, and now it loomed important, decisive, sweeping down beneath every other consideration.†   (source)
  • With a curious physical sensation, as if she were urged forward and at the same time must hold herself back, she made her first quick decisive stroke.†   (source)
  • Look at the decisive battle of Brenneville in which a field of nine hundred knights took part, and only three were killed.†   (source)
  • A world organization has already been erected for the prime purpose of preventing war, UNO, the successor of the League of Nations, with the decisive addition of the United States and all that that means, is already at work.†   (source)
  • Gant and Eliza, although each felt dumbly that they had come to a decisive boundary in their lives, talked vaguely about their plans, spoke of Dixieland evasively as "a good investment," said nothing clearly.†   (source)
  • It was a decisive battle, because it was in some ways the twelfth century equivalent of what later came to be called a Total War.†   (source)
  • Then the smile did the trick to the mouth which under ordinary circumstances looked like a nice, clean, decisive surgical wound, well healed and no pucker.†   (source)
  • Her voice was brisk and decisive and she made up her mind instantly and with no girlish shillyshallying.†   (source)
  • 36 A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder (x): fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won (y): the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man (4.†   (source)
  • But he knew Gus, as he knew himself, and he knew that one of them might fail through fear at the decisive moment.†   (source)
  • This she said in her onetime decisive and impatient way, but without the brightness or what you might call the sea ring of real command.†   (source)
  • He stands, sober, contained, with that air compassionate still, but decisive without being assured, confident without being assertive: that air of a man about to do something which someone dear to him will not understand and approve, yet which he himself knows to be right just as he knows that the friend will never see it so.†   (source)
  • Lubin, who had always said that Georgie would be better off in an institution, brought the commitment papers, and Mama, without Simon's support against the old lady (and probably even that would not have stopped her, since Grandma was in a decisive action and was carried along with the impulse of a doom), had to sign.†   (source)
  • With this they summoned all their energies together for one decisive encounter, leaned forward, lowered their heads like two billy-goats, and positively sprinted together for the final blow.†   (source)
  • In the dim grayness of the parlor she fought a quick decisive battle with the three most binding ties of her soul—the memory of Ellen, the teachings of her religion and her love for Ashley.†   (source)
  • The effects of this decisive debate were not long in showing themselves.†   (source)
  • Suddenly Newland Archer felt himself impelled to decisive action.†   (source)
  • The coming of this boy was a decisive event with Jurgis.†   (source)
  • But Mrs. Fisher interposed with a decisive gesture.†   (source)
  • He evidently knew what he wanted, for every movement was quick, decisive.†   (source)
  • She saw Jett in quick, sharp, decisive, yet nervous action.†   (source)
  • Then he slid his chair back in one decisive motion and left the room.†   (source)
  • Almost every day the newspaper printed accounts of a decisive victory.†   (source)
  • Every action was swift, decisive, fierce.†   (source)
  • At breakfast next morning she took decisive action.†   (source)
  • That evening Margaret took decisive action.†   (source)
  • Still he was quick, decisive, strong, equal to the occasion.†   (source)
  • Indeed, of late he seemed inclined to end the struggle with one decisive blow.†   (source)
  • Upon my word—it was an illusion," the Italian said with a decisive gesture of one hand.†   (source)
  • This accidental circumstance was the signal for some very decisive proceedings.†   (source)
  • "Would I!" was all her answer; but the accent was decisive enough.†   (source)
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