Tentative Sentence Examples

tentative
  • Dean took a deep breath and crept a few tentative steps into the darkness.

    792
    275
  • He couldn't go home and let Sarah and Connor see how tentative his composure was.

    270
    157
  • Cynthia Byrne answered in a tentative voice on the first ring.

    201
    100
  • Venice had already established a tentative hold on the immediate mainland as early as 1339.

    98
    51
  • Dean skied a few tentative yards down the slope, took a couple of turns, stopped, and assessed himself.

    179
    136
  • Archeozoic (Archean) Group.The oldest group of rocks, called the Archean, was formerly looked upon, at least in a tentative way, as the original crtist of the earth or its downward extension, much altered by the processes of metamorphism.

    56
    22
  • Tentative essays in criticism and dissertations on the art of poetry abounded.

    78
    46
  • Rhangabe made tentative excavations on this site, digging a trench along the north and east sides of the second temple.

    51
    27
  • Meagre as is the information preserved of the arts, thoughts, and customs of these survivors from the lower Stone Age, it is of value as furnishing even a temporary and tentative means of working out the development of culture on a basis not of conjecture but of fact.

    43
    23
  • It was therefore a period and a process of transition, fusion, preparation, tentative endeavour.

    35
    19
    Advertisement
  • Among the drawbacks of this temper, which on the whole made for progress, was the rise of a school of excessive scepticism, which, forgetting the value of the accumulated stores of empiricism, despised those degrees of moral certainty that, in so complex a study and so tentative a practice as medicine, must be our portion for the present, and even for a long future, however great the triumphs of medicine may become.

    39
    24
  • The conjectures of Hermann, in which the Wolfian theory found a modified and tentative application, were presently thrown into the shade by the more trenchant method of Lachmann, who (in two papers read to the Berlin Academy in 1837 and 1841) sought to show that the Iliad was made up of sixteen independent " lays," with various enlargements and interpolations, all finally reduced to order by Peisistratus.

    36
    22
  • She looks a little tentative, but oddly eager.

    17
    3
  • After a number of tentative plans, he resolved in 1695 to institute what is often called a "ragged school," supported by public charity.

    37
    24
  • His earliest tentative was the drawing up of a memoire to Mazarin, showing that of the taxes paid by the people not one-half reached the king.

    29
    17
    Advertisement
  • At present, therefore, classifications of the Hydromedusae have a more or less tentative character, and are liable to revision with increased knowledge of the life-histories of these organisms. Many groups bear at present two names, the one representing the group as defined by polyp-characters, the other as defined by medusa-characters.

    38
    29
  • Austria, meanwhile, had been making the first tentative essays in constitutional concession, which culminated, in May 1861, in the establishment at Vienna of a Reichsrat for the whole empire, including Hungary.

    27
    18
  • In this scheme birds are arranged according to what the author considered to be their natural method and sequence; but the result exhibits some unions as ill-assorted as can well be met with in the whole range of tentative arrangements of the class, together with some very unjustifiable divorces.

    23
    15
  • Buffon, in a cautious, tentative fashion, suggested rather than stated the mutability of species and the influence of the forces of nature in moulding organisms. Immanuel Kant, in his Theory of the Heavens (1755), foreshadowed a theory of the development of unformed matter into the highest types of animals and plants, and suggested that the gradations of structure revealed by comparative anatomy pointed to the existence of blood relationship of all organisms, due to derivation from a common ancestor.

    23
    16
  • He was now completely subservient to Austria, an Austrian, Count Nugent, being even made commander-in-chief of the army; and for four years he reigned as a despot, every tentative effort at the expression of liberal opinion being ruthlessly suppressed.

    28
    22
    Advertisement
  • Yes, she was fine, though her tone sounded nervous and tentative.

    8
    3
  • Tentative attempts at export duties have also been made.

    19
    14
  • Already ere Ecgbert ascended the throne of Kent the new enemy had made his first tentative appearance on the British shore.

    26
    21
  • Austria at last began to see that a policy of coercion was useless and dangerous, and made tentative efforts at conciliation.

    21
    18
  • Mill in the tentative approach to theism found in his posthumous volume (Three Essays on Religion; 1874).

    17
    16
    Advertisement
  • A notable feature of the conference was the presence of the Swedish bishop of Kalmar, who presented a letter from the archbishop of Upsala, as a tentative advance towards closer relations between the Anglican Church and the Evangelical Church of Sweden.

    47
    48
  • But the general result of such reconstructions is tentative.

    1
    2
  • The term of office of the latter was marked by the first tentative efforts to modify the high protective system by which British trade was hampered, especially by the Reciprocity of Duties Act (1823), a modification of the Navigation Acts, by which British and foreign shipping were placed on an equal footing, while the right to impose restrictive duties on ships of powers refusing to reciprocate was retained.

    1
    2
  • The union of the negative and the positive elements in his work has caused historians no little perplexity, and we cannot quite save the philosopher's consistency unless we regard some of the doctrines attributed to him by Xenophon as merely tentative and provisional.

    2
    2
  • The first stage at which we can distinguish Plato's ethical view from that of Socrates is presented in the Protagoras, where he makes a serious, though clearly tentative effort to define the object of that knowledge which he with his master regards as the essence of all virtue.

    1
    2
  • Their proceedings were very cautious and tentative; they excited the curiosity and interest of even the more intelligent Chinese by their clocks, their globes and maps, their books of European engravings, and by Ricci's knowledge of mathematics, including dialling and the projection of maps.

    0
    1
  • The increasing number of her adherents, and her inexperience of government on such a vast and complicated scale, obliged her to comply with political necessity and to adopt the system of the state and its social customs. The Church was no longer a fraternity, on a footing of equality, with freedom of belief and tentative as to dogma, but an authoritative aristocratic hierarchy.

    0
    1
  • The peace of Amiens, which cost him Egypt, could only seem to him a temporary truce; whilst he was gradually extending his authority in Italy, the cradle of his race, by the union of Piedmont, and by his tentative plans regarding Genoa, Parma, Tuscany and Naples.

    0
    1
  • Dr Wallis Budge visited several of the far southern sites and made some tentative excavations, but no extensive explorations were undertaken until an unexpected event produced a sudden outburst of activity.

    0
    1
  • The central and southern Sudan is therefore almost a virgin field for the archaeologist, but the exploration of Lower Nubia has made it possible to write a tentative preface to the new chapters still unrevealed.

    0
    1
  • His policy, therefore, was necessarily tentative and ambiguous, and might very readily be misinterpreted.

    0
    1
  • The statute was preceded by tentative provisions of the same kind enacted in the reigns of Edward VI.

    1
    1
  • Our knowledge presents so many gaps, and the mode of action of many remedies is so obscure and imperfectly understood, that any arrangement adopted must be more or less tentative in character.

    0
    1
  • They are essentially tentative, and exhibit with unusual clearness the manner in which the difficulties of a received theory force on a wider and more comprehensive view.

    0
    1
  • Agreement was final reached on a tentative location for our Shangri La; Keene, New Hampshire.

    1
    2
  • Just then, one of the attending firemen tested the hose with a tentative burst, scattering a curbside group that screamed in delight.

    2
    2
  • Have the voice actors been decided, or is it tentative?

    2
    2
  • With gentle guidance, our tentative beginnings drawn out, examined, put together, improved.

    2
    2
  • The numbers of users in these categories is too small to draw more than the following tentative conclusions.

    2
    2
  • All online workshop schedules and deadlines were set-up as " tentative " pending confirmation from both CDAC Online staffers and project participants.

    2
    2
  • For twelve years he will remain tentative and perhaps even diffident in the elaboration of his conviction.

    2
    2
  • With only a lap of wet practice and me on inters, I was tentative to say the least!

    2
    2
  • The differences found between the teacher groups enable us to draw a tentative psycho-educational profile of teachers who are successful at social mainstreaming.

    2
    2
  • One atheist philosopher has made a tentative step toward belief.

    2
    2
  • These tentative suggestions are put forward to generate discussion.

    2
    2
  • Anyone with experience of upmarket hotels may feel a little tentative pulling the desk away from the wall.

    1
    1
  • This in mind, ones conclusions must be treated as somewhat tentative and contingent.

    1
    2
  • Taylor is candid about the fact that some of the best theories we have at present are rather tentative.

    1
    1
  • The study described its findings as ' necessarily tentative ' because of major information gaps.

    1
    2
  • Tutors can be too tentative or not ' visible ' enough in discussions.

    1
    1
  • The " descent " reference is highly tentative, too.

    1
    1
  • These are large questions; comment can only be very tentative.

    1
    1
  • I must admit to being a bit tentative with these kinds of claims.

    1
    1
  • However, her commitment to Italian ecclesiastical initiatives remained tentative.

    1
    1
  • Here the violinist occasionally seems tentative, not quite the match of the gutsy pianist.

    1
    1
  • Hiden, Sharpe, Harte, Kewell looked tentative out wide at best.

    1
    1
  • Hogarth made tentative researches on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Fund and the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies in 1895; and a German expedition worked for two years (1898-1899).

    1
    2
  • Obviously tentative, and with limits and ultimate interpretation to be determined elsewhere, it failed to bear fruit till the Renaissance, and then by the irony of fate to the discrediting of Aristotle.

    1
    1
  • Such tentative evidence is not yet sufficiently weighty to change the author 's convictions that the universe must be finite in all respects.

    1
    2
  • Before making an order for division of assets, a judge should check his tentative views against the yardstick of equal division.

    1
    2
  • Don't let insecurity result in timid body language and tentative answers.

    1
    2
  • If the child has experienced both excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy, a tentative diagnosis may be made on the basis of the patient's history.

    1
    1
  • For example, when joining a new group where a conversation is already in progress, well-liked children will listen first, establishing a tentative presence in the group before speaking, even if it is to change the subject.

    1
    1
  • In these cases, child protective services are fairly certain the courts will decide in favor of the adoptive placement, but this tentative situation imposes a potentially uncomfortable arrangement on the adoptive family and their household.

    1
    1
  • No matter what year it is, get ready to welcome in the tentative warmth of the season while maintaining the ability to cover up if the cold air comes back to visit before vanishing completely.

    1
    1
  • Literature reviews, on the other hand, do seem to yield some tentative conclusions.

    0
    1
  • Once he/she starts to take those tentative first steps, however, a soft pair of shoes may be in order.

    0
    1
  • As your child develops into a toddler and starts to take those first tentative steps, it's still a good idea to allow him or her to go barefoot as much as possible.

    1
    2
  • Recent evidence reveals tentative seedlings that perhaps sprouted from the roots of body art, but the practice still enchants and mystifies both tattoo lovers and learned scholars.

    1
    2
  • Once you complete your preliminary information, you will receive tentative quotes from major providers as well as providers in your state.

    0
    1
  • Keep in mind that all quotes offered are tentative until the underwriting process is complete.

    0
    1
  • Judging by the tentative list of ingredients, you can easily see that making your own will be much less expensive.

    0
    1
  • A Hannah Montana movie is also in the works with a tentative release date of May 2009.

    1
    2
  • The oppression of Antiochus led to a revolt of the Jews under the leadership of the Maccabees, and Judas Maccabaeus succeeded in capturing Jerusalem after severe fighting, but could not get The sites shown on the plan are tentative, and cannot be regarded as certain; see Nehemiah ii.

    1
    3
  • In home affairs, too, the government made tentative advances in a Liberal direction.

    1
    3
  • It will be seen that neither Reid nor Stewart offers more than a very meagre and tentative contribution to that ethical science by which, as they maintain, the received rules of morality may be rationally deduced from self-evident first principles.

    0
    2
  • Katri Saavalainen somehow became tentative at this point, handing over free balls to Cardiff Ladies.

    0
    2
  • With their non-slip soles they're ideal for keeping tiny toes toasty and for those first tentative and precious steps.

    0
    2
  • However, Poland into the New Millenium charts a more tentative line than the rhetoric of capitalist triumphalism.

    0
    2
  • Such tentative evidence is not yet sufficiently weighty to change the author's convictions that the universe must be finite in all respects.

    0
    2
  • From the standpoint of the history of enlightenment, as Harnack has observed, " Socinianism with its systematic criticism (tentative and imperfect as it may now seem) and its rejection of all the assumptions based upon mere ecclesiastical tradition, can scarcely be rated too highly.

    0
    2
  • Test Cases Let me try to draw some tentative conclusions about recent events.

    0
    2
  • I want to make some tentative suggestions for change.

    2
    4
  • The tentative hypothesis is that the prospect of taking an exam is more stressful than the exam itself.

    1
    3
  • Have you yet to dip a tentative toe into the surfing sea of life?

    0
    2
  • With their non-slip soles they 're ideal for keeping tiny toes toasty and for those first tentative and precious steps.

    0
    2
  • If she is tentative about starting the conversation than ask her leading questions like, "What was your favorite vacation?" or "What would your perfect day look like?"

    0
    2
  • London is as yet underrepresented in this database, with only one 428 node track compared to these tentative stumbles that we have made.

    0
    3
  • The time has not yet come when any final attempt can be made to bring all these separate studies together and estimate exactly how far they necessitate serious modification of the views of West - cott and Hort; but a tentative and provisional judgment would probably have to be on somewhat the following lines.

    17
    21
  • On the whole, Huxley's division probably approaches more nearly than any other to such a tentative classification as may be accepted in definition of the principal varieties of mankind, regarded from a zoological point of view, though anthropologists may be disposed to erect into separate races several of his widely-differing sub-races.

    18
    22
  • Nevertheless we find some sporadic and tentative critical efforts or questions.

    12
    17
  • As a result of six months' work, Wood's "earliest temple" was recleared and planned, remains of three earlier shrines were found beneath it, a rich deposit of offerings, &c., belonging to the earliest shrine was discovered, and tentative explorations were made in the Precinct.

    13
    18
  • Cousin Relations was opposed to Kant in asserting that the uncondi- to Kant, tioned in the form of infinite or absolute cause is but Schelling a mere unrealizable tentative or effort on the part of and Hegel.

    14
    19
  • After years of tentative approaches on Schiller's part, years in which that poet concealed even from himself his desire for a friendly understanding with Goethe, the favourable moment arrived; it was in June 1794, when Schiller was seeking collaborators for his new periodical Die Horen; and his invitation addressed to Goethe was the beginning of a friendship which continued unbroken until the younger poet's death.

    13
    19
  • Corps was now hammering against the Italian 34th Div., whose position was precarious, and although Etna's Val Sugana troops had held their own against various tentative attacks, they were withdrawn to the second line of defence.

    11
    17
  • Moreover, heresies are not to be confounded with tentative and faulty hypotheses broached in a period prior to the scrutiny of a topic of Christian doctrine, and before that scrutiny has led the general mind to an assured conclusion.

    10
    17
  • Such a conditional and tentative policy, on the part of a second-rate power, in a period of universal tension and turmoil, was most difficult; but Griffenfeldt did not regard it as impossible.

    11
    18
  • Moreover, he compared dialectic and sophistry, on account of their generality, with primary philosophy in the Metaphysics (P 2, 1004 b 17-26); to the effect that all three concern themselves with all things, but that about everything metaphysics is scientific, dialectic tentative, sophistry apparent, not real.

    10
    17
  • The merit of Hegel is to have indicated and to a large extent displayed the filiation and mutual limitation of our forms of thought; to have arranged them in the order of their comparative capacity to give a satisfactory expression to truth in the totality of its relations; and to have broken down the partition which in Kant separated the formal logic from the transcendental analytic, as well as the general disruption between logic and metaphysic. It must at the same time be admitted that much of the work of weaving the terms of thought, the categories, into a system has a hypothetical and tentative character, and that Hegel has rather pointed out the path which logic must follow, viz.

    10
    17
  • On Fructidor 10 and 11 (27th and 28th of August), when the prisoners were removed from Paris, there were tentative efforts at a riot with a view to rescue, but these were easily suppressed.

    10
    22
  • It is worth noting, however, that Herder in his provokingly tentative way of thinking comes now and again very near ideas made familiar to us by Spencer and Darwin.

    11
    23
  • After further tentative explorations, he struck the actual pavement of the Artemision on the last day of 1869.

    14
    26
  • Even this verbal flaw would be obviated if Giesbrecht could prove his tentative hypothesis, that the Gymnoplea may have lost a pre-genital segment of the abdomen, and the Podoplea may have lost the last segment of the thorax.

    11
    25
  • For about a century and a half before that time, levee building had been undertaken in a more or less spasmodic and tentative way, first by riparian proprietors, then by local combinations of public and private interests, and finally by the state, acting through levee districts, advised by a Board of Engineers.

    10
    25
  • They were much missed, but fifteen years elapsed before Sir James Graham (then home secretary) decided to allot a few constables in plain clothes for that purpose as a tentative measure.

    11
    26
  • Tentative and hardly serious claims were also put forward by Pope Gregory XIII., as ex officio heir-general to a cardinal, and by Catherine de' Medici, as a descendant of Alphonso III.

    11
    26
  • When they, the immediate successors of Plato, rejected their master's ontology and proposed to themselves as ends mere classificatory sciences which with him had been means, they bartered their hope of philosophic certainty for the tentative and provisional results of scientific experience.

    186
    201