Sentence examples for empty pleasure from inspiring English sources

Some of the definitions Johnson later entered under "vanity" in his Dictionary suggest the range of meaning of his title, including "emptiness," "uncertainty," "fruitless desire, fruitless endeavour," "empty pleasure; vain pursuit; idle show; unsubstantial enjoyment; petty object of pride," and "arrogance".

Later in the century, liturgical music again became less extravagant in the wake of the Council of Trent (1545 63), which ordered that masses be sung "clearly and at the right speed" and that singing "be constituted not to give empty pleasure to the ear, but in such a way that the words may be clearly understood by all".

In 1562 the Council of Trent recommended that church Masses be written with singing "constituted not to give empty pleasure to the ear, but so that the words may be understood clearly by everyone, and that thus the hearts of listeners may be drawn to the desire of heavenly harmony".

Whatever the poison, it takes over the students' lives and leaves a sense of empty pleasure in place of real stimulation.

In a more negative review of the album, Jesse Cataldo of Slant wrote that "the band's songs are catchy at heart, enjoyable in a trifling but substantial way, until they're smeared with layer after layer of smarm, nullifying any chance of their music being consumed as a simple, empty pleasure".

Selingo doesn't propose early sorting, but he agrees that the roughly $1 trillion students owe to private and public lenders are often wasted on empty pleasures, citing as an example the 645-foot-long river-rafting feature in the "leisure pool" at Texas Tech.

I recently caught up with Carolyn de la Peña, a professor of American Studies at the University of California, Davis and the author of the fascinating book "Empty Pleasures: The Story of Artificial Sweeteners from Saccharin to Splenda," to get her take on our national obsession with sweet.

Empty Pleasures: The Story of Artificial Sweeteners from Saccharin to Splenda.

Empty Pleasures starts by doing what the best histories often do, namely making our own cultural moment seem strange.

Empty Pleasures is weakest when de la Peña reads meaning into images how significant is the whiteness of lab coats in cyclamate-manufacturer Abbott's brochures?

In Empty Pleasures, Carolyn de la Peña shows how the status of saccharin and other artificial sweeteners shifted during the twentieth century, from maligned adulterants to ubiquitous objects of ardent attachment.