| 词组 | egregious |
| 释义 | egregious We agree with some earlier usage writers that this word's former positive sense "distinguished, outstanding" has been replaced by a usually pejorative meaning, but just what that meaning is is harder to pin down than you might think. A single definition, such as is commonly given by usage commentators and desk-sized dictionaries, does not cover all of the citations we have, yet the three separate definitions in Webster's Third—sense 2 ("conspicuous for bad quality or taste, notorious"), sense 3a ("extraordinary, extreme"), and sense 3b ("flagrant")—end up being a case of overkill, since more than one of these definitions can apply to a single use. It is probably this nebulous quality that prompted Flesch 1964 to say of egregious, "Many people don't know its exact meaning, and so it's better to avoid it." However, it can be useful to have available a word that encompasses a range of meanings not easily expressed in any other way. The following citations show how egregious (as well as its derivative adverb egregiously) varies from a word with a distinct meaning to a word with several possible nuances. • During this quarrel, the egregious Ma called in newspaper reporters —Carey McWilliams, in The Aspirin Age 1919-1941, ed. Isabel Leighton, 1949 • ... the egregious Rorschach test, which turns students ... into helpless victims of modern diviners — William F. Albright, N. Y. Herald Tribune Book Rev., 20 June 1954 • ... the most egregious idiot —John P. Roche, New Republic, 24 Jan. 1955 • ... an egregiously tedious newsboy —Thomas Mee-han, N.Y. Times Mag., 28 June 1964 • ... so many egregious errors —Times Literary Supp., 2 May 1968 • ... to cover up teaching inadequacies or egregious political activities by teachers —George W. Bon-ham, Change, Winter 1971-72 • ... the egregiously optimistic belief that people will believe anything —John Kenneth Galbraith, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 15 Sept. 1974 • The famous style ... strikes me as egregiously ersatz —Hilton Kramer, N.Y. Times, 30 Mar. 1975 • ... a rather egregious box of imitation ostrich leather complete with two plastic tiger-teeth clasps —N. Y. Times Book Rev., 5 Dec. 1976 • ... lines of such egregious insipidity —Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Saturday Rev., 13 May 1978 |
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