Although Stopsack had probably never before directed such an undertaking, he performed his duties with brio, skillfully heaping verbal abuse on the manacled inmates ... James Morrow, Galápagos Regained, 2014
Her work rustles with the premonition that she was obsolete, that her splendor and style and ferocious brio had been demoted to a kind of sparkling irrelevance. Tobi Haslett, "The Other Susan Sontag," The New Yorker, December 11, 2017
There is a game of croquet set up on the lawn and my second cousin Sonsoles can be found there any hour of the afternoon, bent over, with a mallet in her hand, and looking out of the corner of her eye, between the arm and the axilla, which form a sort of arch for her thoughtful gaze, at the unwary masculine visitor who appears in the harsh afternoon light. Carlos Fuentes, "La Desdichada," Constancia and Other Stories for Virgins, translated by Thomas Christensen, 1990
He recoiled from one odor to another until, in resignation, he accepted and his nose pumped steadily at the single generalized odor that was a meld of everything from axilla to organic debris and smelled like clam soil. Thomas McGuane, The Sporting Club, 1968
Social media exploded with gleeful Schadenfreude. Naomi Fry, "Searching for Meaning in the Leftover Merchandise of Fyre Festival," The New Yorker, May 24, 2018
It also let Peggy see the sagging flesh under Blanche's chin. Since her own jawline was still pretty good, she soaked up some Schadenfreude on that score. Harry Turtledove, The Big Switch, 2011
Despite the fine afternoon sunlight all around, the tump itself seemed steeped in perpetual shadow, brooding and ominous. Stephen R. Lawhead, The Spirit Well, 2012
They buried the coffin in their garden. No cross marked it, just a brown tump in the bleak landscape. Willy Peter Reese, A Stranger to Myself, translated by Michael Hofmann, 2005
He wouldn't let me give a direction. He's fussy sometimes and notionate. George Madden Martin, The House of Fulfilment, 1904
In Saturday's stretch run, Alysheba turned rank, or sour, refusing to run in a straight line, his head twisted in the manner of notionate colts, and he came out to sideswipe second-place Cryptoclearance. Shirley Povich, "Belmont Unfolding Proves Alysheba Is Only Equine," Washington Post, June 8, 1987
"A big effort was made to rewild a huge swath of the Great Plains to its original flora, fauna and animal life," Fallows says. Gary Stoller, "Author of 'Our Towns' Best Seller Finds Ideal Vacation Spots While Seeing America Reinvent Itself," Forbes, August 21, 2018
I argue that the three r’s of the climate-catastrophe generation – reduce, reuse, recycle – need a serious upgrade. In their place I propose resist, revolt, rewild. Mark Boyle, "My advice after a year without tech: rewild yourself," The Guardian, March 19, 2018
For this play that appears to address itself to a serious intellectual problem has almost nothing to say on the subject, and proceeds to disguise its nugacity by resorting to any number of modish--or, rather, outmoded--strategies. John Simon, "All's Well That Ends 'Good'," New York, October 25, 1982
Somehow before I leave town I should find a graceful way to assure Jason that when I first met him I had had no inkling of that particular Aggrandizement report ... even if the disclaimer obliges me to reveal the nugacity of my financial wardrobe. Jonathan Bayliss, Gloucesterbook, 1992