| 词组 | raison d'être |
| 释义 | raison d'être This French term, meaning literally "reason for being," is commonly used to refer to the fundamental purpose of something (or someone) or to an original and central cause or justification: • When the seat of State government was removed to Annapolis in 1695, the town lost its raison d'être — James F. Waesche, Maryland Mag., Autumn 1971 • ... the March of Dimes, having lost its raison d'être, switched from polio to arthritis —John L. Hess & Karen Hess, The Taste of America, 1977 Because its intrinsic Frenchness is so apparent, the term is sometimes written in italics: • UNESCO's very raison d'être—the widening of man's cultural and scientific horizons —Katharine Kuh, Saturday Rev., 24 Jan. 1976 Fowler 1926 cites as an error a passage in which raison d'être is used to mean simply "reason." Evans 1957 calls such use "an affectation" and also criticizes the use of raison d'être to mean "explanation." We have no evidence in our files for either of the criticized uses. |
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