soul-searching
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsəʊlsəːtʃɪŋ/
ipa: /ˈsoʊlˌsəɹtʃɪŋ/
Forms: form: more soul-searching
form: most soul-searching
form: soul searching
form: soulsearching
Etymology: From soul + searching; the noun is derived from the adjective.
Senses: examples: text: Fortune had showered upon him gifts unlooked for; had enabled him, had he been blessed with prudence, to keep the path where he could have been free from ostentatious obligation, on the one hand, and soul searching mortification on the other: but, like an improvident spendthrift, he had lavished away in the fever of indiscretion, the gifts she had bestowed with so liberal a hand; […]
ref: 1794, Henry Fielding, “Mr. Henry Fielding”, in The Mock Doctor; or, The Dumb Lady Cured. A Ballad Farce, in Two Acts, Written by Mr. Henry Fielding. As Performed at the Theatres-Royal, Covent-Garden and Hay-Market, London: Printed by J[ohn] Jarvis, for J[ohn] Parsons, nº 21, Paternoster-Row, →OCLC, page ix:
text: His face is fair, rather oval, his eye dark, soft and bashful, glows with a soul-searching kindness; […]
ref: 1831, Anne [Newport] Royall, “Camden”, in Mrs. Royall's Southern Tour, or Second Series of the Black Book. … In Three or More Volumes, volume II, Washington: [s.n.], →OCLC, pages 44–45:
text: He [Thomas Shepard] was a soul-searching minister of the gospel. By his death, not only the church and people of Cambridge, but also all New England, sustained a very great loss.
ref: 1853, Thomas Shepard, John A[dams] Albro, “Life of Thomas Shepard. [Chapter XII.]”, in The Works of Thomas Shepard, First Pastor of the First Church, Cambridge, Mass. with a Memoir of His Life and Character [by John A. Albro], volume I, Boston, Mass.: Doctrinal Tract and Book Society, →OCLC, page clxxx:
text: Very simple but very soul-searching was the preparation, but very peremptory was the command to all never to neglect to share in the divinely-instituted sacrament.
ref: 1885, Canon Spence [Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones], The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles: A Translation with Notes; and Excursus (I. to IX.) Illustrative of the “Teaching”; and the Greek Text, London: James Nisbet, →OCLC, page 66:
text: Whatever one thinks of [Frederick Campbell] Crews's indictment, the issues he raises represent important challenges to psychoanalysis and should encourage serious, even soulsearching, thought on the part of psychoanalytic adherents.
ref: 1988 May, Morris N. Eagle, “Is Psychoanalysis a Fraudulent Doctrine?”, in Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, volume 33, number 5, →DOI, abstract, page 404:
text: We should pause, even for a moment, to do a soul-searching exercise before participating in Communion.
ref: 2008, Mindy Caliguire, “Experience Four: Responding to Grace”, in Soul Searching, Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, →ISBN, page 99:
text: The rate of soul-searching articles multiplied after a number of well-established figures lost their jobs in this century's first decade.
ref: 2016 January, Cecilia Sayad, “A Matter of (Informed) Taste”, in Film Criticism, volume 40, number 1, →DOI:
glosses: Involving probing introspection, or a critical consideration of one's conscience, especially motives and values.