Word: oracular
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Dates: during 1910-1919
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...these political reformers turn their attention more to the abolition of corrupt practices, of the factors which all thinking men would like to see removed from elections. The men who have the confidence of the people will be kept in office. It approaches fanaticism for oracular persons to tell the inhabitants of a nation which has thrived under a party system to disguise their feelings temporarily and admit that their whole form of government is unequal to emergencies...
...reason for the somber, unprofitable atmosphere of the lecture room lies in the fact that there is no "give and take" between the minds of professor and students. The former occupies an aloof, oracular position, delivering himself to a non-receptive audience of the ideas he has worked out alone or the facts he has collected. The latter listen without enthusiasm and dully set down in notes what they think they hear. In those cases where the lecturer, through his personality or power of popularizing, arouses unusual interest, a theatrical burst of applause betrays the peculiar attitude engendered...
...Wright is clearly very sensitive to atmosphere, and at times tempted to deal with it to excess, even when it is an essential part of the story. His style would gain in masculinity by a greater restraint in the use of adjectives. In "The Ominous Tract"--a somewhat oracular title--Arthur Wilson has a real story to tell, and tells it with genuine effectiveness. Irving Pichel's "The Passing of Prayer" is lighter and slighter, but with indications of considerable comic power. It hovers on the edge of "smartness", and is not quite unified in tone...
...words, and has felt the force of such arguments, but there are few who have profited by the suggestion. They take the other course, but they do not study by themselves either in college or in later life. In other words, studying means to them something supported by the oracular, and all-knowing professor. Even the thesis which is intended to lead men into studying by themselves, merely leads them to studying other books. We bring up this point at this time partly because it is something which everyone should consider in the choice of his courses, especially in regard...