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Use gist in a sentence

Definition of gist:

  • (noun) the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work
  • (noun) the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience

Sentence Examples:

Computers, despite years of effort in "artificial intelligence," have proven spectacularly bad in "catching the gist" of anything at all.

The gist of this statement having been repeated in Spanish, both prisoners burst into clamorous explanation of their presence together.

You are solicitous to prevent a total separation of interests; and this, after all, seems to be the gist of the business.

There are lectures and sermons, sometimes admirably reported, giving in a few bright paragraphs the gist of an hour's discourse.

As the gist of the tort consists of the injury done to one's reputation, the defamatory statement must have been published.

The gist of the hypothesis has already been given in connection with the type of climatic sequence known as orbital precessions.

The muttering was exceedingly incoherent, but from the gist of it Jack seemed to make out that Carrington was expecting somebody.

Then in hurried, disjointed sentences the two boys related the gist of their story while the others listened in amazement.

This was the gist of the explanation; but, unfortunately, it was not sustained by any receivable testimony in any material particular.

It is the gist of the following discussion that common speech is essentially correct in this interchangeable use of intention and motive.

Twenty years ago their manners might have been described less coarsely, but there was even more truth in the gist of the saying.

The gist of the Butler lectures is considerably less clear, and, if only for that reason, it cannot be succinctly stated or answered.

I could have run backwards through my short-term memory to get the gist of the conversation, but that would have lengthened the pause.

Their voices were too soft for the Indian to get the gist of the conversation, and he dared not move closer for fear of detection.

He thought nothing of the small questions of pay and personal interest which really made up the gist of the matter to the workmen.

The message from headquarters was long, circuitous, and couched in the elaborate, ego-caressing ceremonial of high magic, but its gist was clear enough.

There is, I allege, a not too clearly recognized order in the sciences which forms the gist of my case against this scientific pretension.

Gist quickly drew a horse pistol from one of the deep pockets of his long riding coat, and tried to shoot the affronted youth.

Good cause for alarm was this, and, however much it might be exaggerated, we had no doubt that the gist of it was the truth.

His symbols are very numerous, and to comprehend even the general gist of his abstruse doctrines from his Symbology would necessitate years of study.

And the gist of her remarks was that she was surprised to see that American Catholics did not say grace before eating like French Catholics.

He himself must do the asking rather frequently; he may either pounce upon some little point or ask comprehensive questions, including the gist of several sentences.

What exactly happened I can't quite understand, but the gist of it is, he thought he was quite well off, whereas, really, his income is infinitesimal.

Another of the spontaneous capacities with which we are endowed is that of understanding the gist of what we hear without any intervention of analysis or synthesis.

An economist of mark in France whose democratic principles are well known communicated to the French public the gist of certain curious documents in his possession.

The gist of the matter seems to be that at heart Lincoln hesitated at matrimony, as other men have done, both before and since his time.

Nobody ever adds on these occasions the one thing needful: "And be sure you choose your patron wisely", though that is the gist of the whole matter.

The gist of it was, that knowing your Excellency's ability and goodness, he had always loved you and had hoped to enjoy personal relations with you.

Our conversation had been held in French, of course, and in setting this down I have condensed it somewhat, but the gist of what he said is here.

And the gist of his complaint against the Suitors was, not their urging Penelope to marry, but their living upon him while prosecuting the suit.

By the time she had mastered the gist of it, the big train was rolling out with her amidst a doleful clanging of the locomotive bell.

Before he was through, and as soon as the chieftain caught the gist of the words, he sprang to his feet in anger and exclaimed, "It is false!"

In a sentence, however, the beginning more often has some phrase of transition, or some modifier; while it is the end that contains the gist of the sentence.

The gist of the matter is, that a treaty of cession was much desired by the people of the territory, and intensely by politicians and speculators.

The gist of the affair, which became clear to me gradually, was in this, that he regarded himself as entitled to some money in exchange for the girl.

The gist of his argument is that athletics make a man a better and more useful citizen, and fit him to serve his city in peace and war.

Before his brigade had moved from column into line Campbell had spoken a few straightforward soldierly words to his men, the gist of which has been commemorated.

He confided to us that she was "no walker" and "took an hour to walk a mile" (this is the gist of his speech, which was much garnished).

The latter half of this contained the gist of the whole matter; the other things were put in just to prevent the notice from being conspicuously sensible.

And in a few words he gave the gist of the interview which had taken place between the King and the emissary of the Jesuits that morning.

The gist of these statistics is that, with the aid of a trained social worker, it is possible to treat certain forms of mental disease effectively in an out-patient clinic.

The American expects boundless patience from his audience while he elaborates the gist of the story; the longer he prolongs the agony, the better his audience likes it.

His tale was somewhat muffled by lemon pie, and his vocabulary did not always coincide with her own, but she managed to get the gist of it.

His eyes flashed down marvelous pages, taking in their gist, and then he settled himself with a happy sigh to analyze line upon line, to warehouse precept upon precept.

The Resolute brought a telegram, and the man in the fur coat slapped it open, took in its gist at one glance, and began to swear with great gusto.

Bald and crude as this was in comparison with her imagined appeal, it gave the gist of it, and Kate watched her hearer's face anxiously to see the effect.

Monica sat very still, feeling as if she had received some sudden stunning blow; but she could not take in all in a moment the gist of such intelligence.

Then a scene between the pair is enacted, the gist of which is that the husband is displeased with the wife, and declines to hold converse with her.

Back at the mine he found Amigo guarding camp from the hilltop, and after telling him the gist of his troubles, the two of them went to work.

Gist, the intrepid pioneer, who had explored the Ohio in the employ of the company, and whom he engaged to accompany and pilot him in the present expedition.

With much that is picturesque, much that is droll, much that is valuable as being a correct picture of the period selected, the gist of the book is melancholy throughout.

They lay till morning on an island in the river, their clothes stiff with frost, and the hands and feet of poor Gist frozen by the intense cold.

He tried to appear unconscious of the contact, which made his every nerve tingle, as he proceeded to tell her the gist of the reviews he had read that afternoon.

Gist clothed themselves in Indian walking dresses, and with heavy packs on their backs, and each with a gun in his hand, set out through the woods on foot.

It is of course no verbatim rendering, but it is, he says, closely after the manner of their talk, the gist was that, and things of that sort were said.

Muttered David, who had listened eagerly, and, thanks to his own quickness and keenness to learn the language, had managed to pick up the gist of the conversation.

Then he remembered that he had spoken in English and thoughtfully translated the gist of his remonstrances, with as little effect as if he had spoken to the empty air.

Towards midday, almost imperceptibly, the gist of the songs changed to the sentimental, and before very long the heat and fatigue gradually overcame the men, and songs ceased altogether.

Granted the same book, one reader will barely skim its surface, another will gain a fair idea of the gist of it, a third will almost relive it with the author.

The gist of the action is the breaking and entering, but the circumstances which accompany and give character to the trespass may always be shown either in aggravation or mitigation.

Worry's talks always sank deeply into Ken's mind and set him to thinking and revolving over and over the gist of them so that he could remember to his profit.

They had been speaking in rapid English, but the man who slouched noiselessly through the entrance, toward the arch under the stairs, surmised the gist of the conversation.

I knew that she would perhaps be muddled and not take it all in exactly, but I knew, too, that she would grasp the gist of it, very well indeed.

Now, cattle constitute the very life of all the South African tribes, wherefore the three chiefs felt their hearts sink as they realized the gist of this doleful prophecy.

He analyzed well; he saw and presented what lawyers call the very gist of every question, divested of all unimportant or accidental relations, so that his statement was a demonstration.

We have only a summary of his exhortations, the gist of which was earnest warning to separate from the fate of the nation by separating in will and mind from its sins.

I will collect these seven reasons for the forward motion, in the gist of them, which I have marked by italics, that the reader may better judge of their collective value.

If I had ever supposed that the gist of war was to be derived solely from contemplating uniformed warriors, I came to a new conclusion when I overheard the cool experts of war.

There was much more, but this was the gist of it, and the writer sealed and despatched it, not daring to tempt himself to a new effort by reading it over.

She regarded them for a moment with a frank wonder, the undying wonder of the Immortals at that perpetual decay and death and replacement which is the gist of human life.

The gist of this communication is that gravitating force acts in lines across space, and that the vibrations of light and radiant heat consist in the tremors of these lines of force.

The following is a bit of the debate as it was taken down; as Sir John did not write shorthand, he was naturally able to give only the gist of each speech: 'Mr Hide.

Well, there is a certain not too clearly recognized order in the sciences to which I wish to call your attention, and which forms the gist of my case against this scientific pretension.

I do not mind the learned skeptic saying it is a legend or a lie; but I weep for him when he cannot see the gist of it, I might even say the joke of it.

He digests and assimilates his experiences and the gist is stored in the causal body and its growth includes an actual increase in size, just as in the case of the child's physical body.

He protested his good faith elaborately, but the gist of his remarks was that he held the cards and that, consequently, it was he who must be trusted, whilst I furnished the guarantee.

The gist of Sidney's argument is that while the philosopher teaches by precept alone, and the historian by example alone, the poet conduces most to virtue because he employs both precept and example.

The General had been telling his companion some funny story, and his eyes were still twinkling with merriment as his son came up, and he repeated to him the gist of his humorous narrative.

Knowing no English but a few carefully taught swear words, these boys would stop the first slouch hat they met, and ask to have read over in English the gist of the headlines.

The gist of what he said was that there was no more reason why a boy should wear a horseshoe with a whip across it all in gold than that houses should have sieves for roofs.

To renounce a world ready to crumble, to detach one's self little by little from the present life, and to aspire to the kingdom about to come, would have formed the gist of his preaching.

This is the gist of the Yogi meditative breathing methods, and if persisted in will give one a wonderful sense of the reality of the Soul, and will make him seem almost independent of the body.

The curious may find the gist of what I narrate concerning Ormskirk in Heinrich Loewe's biography of the man, and will there discover that with established facts I have not made bold to juggle.

In narrating you should, as a rule, stick to simple occurrences, though you may occasionally vary your work by summarizing the plot of a novel or giving the gist and drift of big historical events.

The very manner of my expression indicates that the gist of the thing is a quantity of permanency, to which the new element is added and from which that which is lacking is subsequently deducted.

This was the very gist of his doctrine; but the instant abolition of such distances had been proved by many experiments to be a vain dream, and the diminution of them must be gradual and slow.

He dwelt eloquently on the point that the gist of the offense was the intent with which the act was committed, and when it appeared that the act was justified, there could be no crime.

Yet once in a while a groan or protest, or a partial account of some outbreak, finds its way through; and in many cases the gist of the story is to the effect that the food is bad or scanty.

Such was the gist of our conversation as the cab rattled through the streets on the way to the prison; and certainly it contained matter sufficiently important to draw away my thoughts from other subjects, more agreeable, but less relevant to the case.

The Serial columns of Nature contain the gist of the most important Papers that appear in the numerous Scientific Journals which are now published at home and abroad, in various languages; while longer Abstracts are given of the more valuable Papers which appear in foreign Journals.

The gist of their argument, so far as Greg Malcolm could determine, was that everyone wanted "something" to be done, but no two could agree as to just what that something was, and no one seemed to have any bursting desire to participate in actual physical labor.

In seeking for fuller knowledge about the movement I found considerable difficulty in obtaining the literature I wanted, and soon conceived the idea of putting together the gist of what I learned in the form of a book, so that it might be more easily available for others.

The gist of many of these appeals is to the effect that because the defendant, by reason of his education and opportunities, ought to have known better than to commit crime, he should now, since he has discovered his mistake, be excused from paying the penalty.

And this is the way in which he presents the gist of his beliefs: I see myself in life as part of a great physical being that strains and I believe grows toward Beauty, and of a great mental being that strains and I believe grows towards knowledge and power.

It was a bad book to write, for the gist of the matter lay in explaining how it happened, that with such extraordinary opportunities for eminent distinction, civil and military, as he has enjoyed, this crisis should have found him so obscure as he certainly was, in a national point of view.

Nor was it the only kindness he did me, or the greatest; for having heard from me at length and in detail all the circumstances leading up to my timely intervention, he sent for me a few days later, and placing a paper in my hands bade me read the gist of it.

Gist followed him for quite a distance, to be sure that he was not deceiving them, and then hurried back. "Now, since you would not let me shoot the villain," he said to Washington, "we must shoulder our packs and hurry away, and walk all night, or we shall never see Williamsburg."

I did not exactly tell him that Dick, although he has more brains in his little finger than his father has in his head, is so much like him that he would shrink from taking so sensible a step as much as Edward himself would; but I gave him the gist of it.