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Wandering Through Chapter 3 - More About Alcoholism
Pages 30 - 31

Chapter 3 - page 30


persistence, illusion, astonishing

"The persistence of this illusion is astonishing..." 1 Big Book - More About Alcoholism - page 30

In this sentence the words persistence and illusion function as nouns. The word astonishing functions as an adjective. 2

Definitions from Webster's 1930 edition. 3

Webster's definition of persistence
Webster's definition of illusion
Webster's definition of astonishing


concede

"We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics." 1 Big Book - More About Alcoholism - page 30

In the sentence concede functions as a verb. The phrase "to fully concede" functions as an infinitive phrase. 2

Concede serves as an action, specifically meaning to admit, acknowledge, or surrender a point.

Definitions from Webster's 1930 edition. 3

Webster's definition of concede


delusion

"The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed." 1
Big Book - More About Alcoholism - page 30

In the sentence the word delusion functions as a noun. 2

This refers to the false belief that an alcoholic can eventually drink safely like non-alcoholics.

Definitions from Webster's 1930 edition. 3

Webster's definition of delusion


pitiful, incomprehensible demoralization

"All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals--usually brief--were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization." 1
Big Book - More About Alcoholism - page 30

In the sentence pitiful functions as an adjective. 2

The progression of alcoholism eventually takes over. This brings the person to realize they have no control, leading to deep depression and questions about their self-worth.

Definitions from Webster's 1930 edition. 3

Webster's definition of pitiful
Webster's definition of incomprehensible
Webster's definition of demoralization

   
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Footnotes for page 30

1Quotes from the Big Book on listed on this page are from the public domain version, in the United States, of the 2nd edition of the book Alcoholics Anonymous. Accessible at 12step.org

2Sentence diagramming, to determine the word usage within the sentence, was performed by CoreNLP at corenlp.run.

3Definitions used are from the Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language 1930 Edition. Access to this dictionary online is at Hathitrust.org