| 词组 | imbecile, imbecilic |
| 释义 | imbecile, imbecilic Simon 1980 says in passing that imbecilic is "a substandard adjective derived by faulty analogy." We do not know on what basis this assertion is made, but the formation from the noun imbecile and the adjective ending -ic, as shown in the OED Supplement, is entirely regular. The word imbecilic appears to be a 20th-century coinage. The earliest citation in the OED Supplement is dated 1918. We first heard of it in 1909 through a letter from a physician in Markey, Michigan, who was perhaps suggesting that his wife had coined the word: • Whenever this word was used by my wife in the presence of educated people it occasioned remark and favorable comment. It was written down as early as 1917: • ... two statements by Professor Harry Elmer Barnes, of Smith College. The first was written in June, 1917: "... the extreme Pan-Germanic junker party—allied itself to the semi-imbecilic Crown Prince." —American Mercury, August 1927 It should not be considered substandard English: • ... a remark more imbecilic than the first —Jean Stafford, Children Are Bored on Sunday, 1953 • ... the imbecilic but eternally triumphant Inspector Clouseau —Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Saturday Rev., 28 Oct. 1978 • ... Arnheiters imbecilic game of hide-and-seek with the Chinese submarine —William Styron, This Quiet Dust and Other Writings, 1982 There is even a derivative adverb: • ... simper imbecilically under the floodlights on some demicelebrity's arm —John Fowles, Holiday, June 1966 |
| 随便看 |
英语用法大全包含2888条英语用法指南，基本涵盖了全部常用英文词汇及语法点的翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。