| 释义 |
demote, v. orig. U.S.|diːˈməʊt|
[f. de- + promote.]
trans. To reduce to a lower rank or class. Hence deˈmotion.
1893in Funk's Stand. Dict. 489/2 The school children in Senator Wilson's district of Iowa ‘use the word demote as an antithesis of promote, and..it is so used generally in that section of the country’. 1900Daily News 26 May 6/7 When absentees returned to school, the masters were unwilling to ‘demote’ them. 1901Smithsonian Rep. (1902) 75 Promotion and demotion, i.e., advancement in ‘age’ (rank) by common consent in recognition of prowess, etc., with correlative reducton in ‘age’ as the penalty for cowardice. 1919Daily Mail 7 Oct. 5/4 Major-General Biddle..is shortly to be ‘demoted’ to brigadier. 1929R. A. Fisher Genet. Theory Nat. Selection 226 The agencies controlling promotion or demotion. 1946C. Fry Phœnix too Frequent (1949) 40 Demoted first and then hanged! 1954Koestler Invisible Writing 60 Every demotion, each step down the slopes of the pyramid, is final and irrevocable. 1955Times Lit. Suppl. 11 Nov. 673/1 Montesquieu has been demoted to the position of a rather disagreeable figure of fun. 1957Listener 28 Nov. 881/1 Premises at the Great Central Hotel, Marylebone, now, alas, demoted to railway offices. 1958Economist 22 Nov. 676/1 The demotion of the hectoring Mr. Edusei from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Ghana to the Ministry of Communications in the course of a cabinet reshuffle. 1968A. Cowan Fortunately in England 244 In any case, since they are prefects we can't very well demote them. |