Adjective

(-)

without a spark

* {{quote-book, year=1891, author=Shelley, title=Adonais, chapter=, edition= citation

, passage=From the contagion of the world's slow stain 5 He is secure; and now can never mourn A heart grown cold, a head grown grey in vain-- Nor, when the spirit's self has ceased to burn, With sparkless ashes load an unlamented urn. 41. }}

* {{quote-book, year=1939, author=Arthur Quiller-Couch, title=On The Art of Reading, chapter=, edition= citation

, passage=But when we come to a fine thing in our own language--to a stanza from Shelley's "Adonais" for instance: He has outsoared the shadow of our night; Envy and calumny and hate and pain, And that unrest which men miscall delight, Can touch him not and torture not again; From the contagion of the world's slow stain He is secure, and now can never mourn A heart grown cold, a head grown gray in vain; Nor, when the spirit's self has ceased to burn, With sparkless ashes load an unlamented urn. what can you do with that ? }}

* {{quote-news, year=2007, date=January 28, author=Scott Sturgis, title=A Mechanic’s Laptop Makes Manuals All but Obsolete, work=New York Times citation

, passage=The worn-out brushes in a dead starter or a short circuit in a sparkless ignition distributor would eventually be revealed to a mechanic who carefully dug through the clues. }}

lacking in creativity or energy

* {{quote-news, year=1996, date=January 26, author=Neil Tesser, title=Motion Poets, work=Chicago Reader citation

, passage=Live, though, this youthful Minnesota-based band performed a somewhat sparkless set that seemed to bury the conceptual strengths, the stark voicings, and the crisp rhythms that on the album helped shape the arrangements and link the horns. }}

* {{quote-news, year=2004, date=July 23, author=Lawrence Bommer, title=Much Ado About Nothing, work=Chicago Reader citation

, passage=It's a small triumph that LiveWire's sparkless production manages to preserve the plot. }}