| 词组 | exceedingly, excessively |
| 释义 | exceedingly, excessively The distinction between these adverbs is noted in many books on usage. Exceedingly is used only as a synonym of extremely: • ... is in an exceedingly precarious position —Robert A. Nisbet, Psychology Today, March 1971 • ... did exceedingly well in the advertising business —William Stadiem, Town & Country, September 1980 Excessively normally functions as a synonym of overly: • ... an attempt to escape an excessively literal world —Current Biography, July 1966 • Without being excessively indulgent —Robert K. Merton, Columbia Forum, Spring 1968 This distinction became a topic for usage commentators in the late 19th century, when Ayres 1881 among others disparaged the use of excessively in contexts which required, in their view, exceedingly or extremely. Such usage actually has a highly respectable history: • Elizabeth was excessively disappointed; she had set her heart on seeing the Lakes, and still thought there might have been time enough —Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1813 • There came forth from it nothing but smoke ... at which he wondered excessively —Edward W. Lane, A Thousand and One Nights, 1841 (OED) But it seems never to have been very common; at any rate, it certainly is not common now. The "overly" sense of excessively is now so strongly established that any use to mean "extremely" stands out as peculiar. Here is a sampling of the scanty evidence we have gathered for it in the 20th century: • ... only an excessively small amount of glass is taken off—Scientific American Supp., 13 Oct. 1916 • ... a set of pamphlets ... which are excessively interesting —Harold J. Laski, letter, 22 Apr. 1928 • ... a volume of poems that has become, as they say in the book collectors' catalogues, excessively rare — Anthony West, New Yorker, 10 Nov. 1951 |
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