| 词组 | vis-à-vis |
| 释义 | vis-à-vis The literal meaning of vis-à-vis in French is "face to face," and it has had some use in English (as in French) as a preposition meaning "face to face with": • His master dived down to him, leaving me vis-à-vis the ruffianly bitch —Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, 1847 (OED) But vis-à-vis is far more familiar in its two extended senses, "in relation to" and "in comparison with," both of which it also has in French, and both of which have been in use in English since the 18th century. They now occur fairly commonly in writing, to which they impart something of a continental tone: • ... the idea that the proper role of the press, vis-avis government, lies in an adversary relationship — Moll Ivins, Change, March 1972 • ... the division and the decline of Europe vis-a-vis the two superpowers —Wall Street Jour., 6 Jan. 1982 • A standoff will have been achieved vis-à-vis the Russians —Mary McCarthy, N. Y. Times Book Rev., 9 Feb. 1986 • ... the militia called Amal..., which still stands for moderation vis-à-vis more militant Shiites —Mary Catherine Bateson, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 25 May 1986 These uses of vis-à-vis are largely uncontroversial (although Follett 1966 insists that vis-à-vis should only be used "with a clear sense" of its literal meaning). It now appears that a slight further extension of meaning is creating the additional sense "with regard to; concerning": • It is true that between 1930 and 1933, many papers were neutral vis-à-vis Nazism —Walter Laqueur, N. Y. Times Book Rev., 20 June 1982 Bernstein 1965 cites such usage as an error, and our evidence shows it to be relatively rare. It does not, however, represent a radical shift in meaning from the established sense "in relation to." |
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