American Literature

noun a novel written by Sinclair Lewis, also used as a surname for a character in the novel

• George Babbitt was a successful real estate agent in Zenith.
• Hey, have you met Babbitt? He's the top realtor in town.
• Babbitt is killing it in the real estate game.
• His last name might be Babbitt, but he's anything but ordinary.

noun a member of a group of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to simplify and regulate forms of worship

• The puritan settlers believed in strict religious principles.
• The puritans were known for their conservative beliefs.
• Those puritans were a bunch of prudes.
• Her puritanical views on morality were evident in her strict lifestyle choices.

noun a person who follows the philosophical movement of transcendentalism, which emphasizes spiritual intuition and individualism

• The transcendentalist movement in the 19th century emphasized the importance of individual intuition and spiritual connection with nature.
• My friend is a big fan of transcendentalist philosophy and loves reading works by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.
• I don't get all that transcendentalist stuff, it's too deep for me.
• Her ideas were so ahead of their time, she was like a modern-day transcendentalist.