| 词组 | complacent, complaisant |
| 释义 | complacent, complaisant 1. A number of commentators (Kilpatrick 1984, Bryson 1984, and Copperud 1970, 1980 among them) warn against the confusion of these words. If the words were used only in the senses assigned by these gentlemen, they would never be confused, of course. Conveniently overlooked in their defining is the fact that complacent has been and is used to mean "marked by an inclination to please or oblige"—the first sense of complaisant in Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. This is, in fact, the only meaning Johnson's 1755 dictionary gives complacent. Johnson's biographer Boswell also used this sense: • Though for several years her temper had not been complacent, she had valuable qualities —James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson, 1791 Perhaps part of the problem was precipitated by the publication of the OED, which enters this sense of complacent but also wonders if it is obsolete. Despite the speculation, the OED cites three sources: Burke from 1790, Scott from 1821, and Charlotte Brontë from 1849. This evidence notwithstanding, language critics at the turn of the century began labeling this use of complacent as an error. That the sense is still in occasional use the Merriam-Webster files attest: • ... the man of feeling, the man of action and the man of thought. The one is tolerant, complacent, easy going, convivial, loving —Horizon, December 1946 • The University of Colorado courteously released me from my contract, but the Garrett Biblical Institute was less complacent —Robert Morss Lovett, All Our Years, 1948 On the whole, however, modern writers regularly spell this meaning complaisant. Complacent in its modern senses is used more commonly than complaisant. If you are doubtful about the meaning of either word, a good dictionary will solve your problem. 2. When complacent is used with a preposition, it is most likely to be about: • She's not very complacent about having done that — Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men, 1946 Less frequently used are with, of, or to: • ... with my office building paid for, is it any wonder that I grew complacent with the status quo —The Autobiography of William Allen White, 1946 • For several years, the U.S., complacent of its ability to stay ahead of Russia in all things technological — Time, 10 Jan. 1955 • But then, as she quickly reminded herself, she had been no more complacent to him ... than she had been to half-a-dozen others. Men were so stupid! — The Strand, December 1913 Unlike complacent, complaisant hardly ever is used with a preposition: • ... who is known in history largely as the complaisant husband of his wife —Claude G. Bowers, The Young Jefferson, 1743-1789, 1945 |
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