| 词组 | lengthy |
| 释义 | lengthy Lengthy started its career as a usage issue in the late 1700s, when British critics began to attack it as an Americanism. The first record of its use is from about a hundred years earlier. Among the 18th-century American writers who used it were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin: • An unwillingness to read any thing about them if it appears a little lengthy —Benjamin Franklin, letter, 1773 (OED) The British first regarded lengthy as an unneeded synonym for long, but they soon began to use it themselves: • One most lengthy and perplext proposition —Jeremy Bentham, Chrestomathia, 1816 (OED) • This address ... was unusually lengthy for him — Charles Dickens, Pickwick Papers, 1837 (OED) The history of the early dispute was recounted in detail by Albert Mathews in an article published in The Dial in 1898. Mathews reported, among other things, that a British nobleman named Lord Harrowby defended lengthy as early as 1818, finding that it "imported what was tedious as well as long, an idea that no other English word seemed to convey as well." Lengthy became so firmly established in British usage during the 19th century that Mathews felt safe in concluding that "the controversy may be said long ago to have ended." As it turns out, Mathews's conclusion was a bit premature. Lengthy has continued to appear sporadically in books on usage (most of them American) throughout the 20th century. Bierce 1909 thought that it was "no better than breadthy, or thicknessy," but later commentators have been more tolerant. A typical opinion can be found in Evans 1957: "Lengthy is largely restricted to speeches and writings and carries the reproachful suggestion that they are longer than they need be." The use of lengthy without connotations of tediousness is discouraged by several commentators, although Harper 1975, 1985 finds that it "does not necessarily imply tediousness." Bernstein 1965 also questions the strength of its "tedious" connotations; he asserts that "the meaning of lengthy is not at all sharp" and recommends avoiding it altogether. Our evidence shows that lengthy does retain its "over-long, tedious" connotations in much modern use: • ... the disadvantages of the lengthy and histrionic discussions such television may invite —N. Y. Times Mag., 12 Sept. 1954 • They were given lengthy lectures on the importance of neatness and lettering —David Wellman, Trans-Action, April 1968 • Completion of a lengthy form ... is often followed by equally lengthy delays —Robin Prestage, Saturday Rev., 1 Jan. 1972 But note that if long were substituted for lengthy in the above passages, the implications of tediousness would hardly be less. Harper and Bernstein are right in observing that lengthy does not always carry such implications. It can simply be a synonym of long. Most typically, it describes something that is long in a noteworthy way, whether because of tediousness or, very often, because of comprehensiveness: • A lengthy discussion between him and Professor Richard ... promoted liturgical interest and knowledge throughout the Church —Dictionary of American Biography, 1936 • ... embarked upon lengthy studies of all aspects of therapeutic application of X-rays —Current Biography 1949 • Commission members launched a lengthy probe — Trevor Armbrister, Saturday Evening Post, 12 Feb. 1966 • ... to undergo lengthy training in programming — Herbert A. Simon, Think, May-June 1967 Our evidence also shows that its use in describing things other than speech and writing is common: • ... on a short trip, much less a lengthy one —Geor-gene Pitman, Ford Times, November 1967 • ... would certainly involve lengthy delays —Richard Eells, "Pacem in Maribus," A Center Occasional Paper, June 1970 • Wars were neither organized nor lengthy —William Glasser, Saturday Rev., 19 Feb. 1972 • ... its lengthy Christmas holidays —Donna Martin, Change, Winter 1972-73 Its use in describing physical objects, however, is relatively rare: • He twirled his lengthy key chain —Don Davis, in The Best from Yank, 1945 The upshot of this lengthy discussion (which you may find either tedious or comprehensive) is that lengthy is a venerable synonym of long which has been used by excellent writers for about three centuries. You need not hesitate to use it yourself. |
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