| 释义 |
unˈgovernable, a. (and n.)
[un-1 7 b.]
That cannot be governed; uncontrollable. a. Of persons (or animals).
1673[R. Leigh] Transp. Reh. 112 Such ungovernable cattle as conscientious savages. 1680Dryden Ovid's Ep. Pref. (ad fin.), So wild and ungovernable a poet cannot be translated literally. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 312 The fellows were so rude, so ungovernable and unbounded in their hunting after gold. 1768Boswell Corsica ii. (ed. 2) 135 A lawless and ungovernable rabble of banditti. 1829Scott Anne of G. xxv, The abbess..will have an ungovernable penitent under her charge. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 592 These animals..became ungovernable as soon as they heard a gun fired. 1855Ibid. xvii. IV. 101 The fiercest and most ungovernable part of the..population.
n.1810Byron Let. to H. Drury 3 May, I have been with..governors and ungovernables.
b. Of temper, passion, etc.
1676Hale Contempl. i. 341 Men pretending to greatness of wit and learning, but in truth of haughty and ungovernable spirits. 1741Richardson Pamela II. 36 This strange wayward Heart of mine, that I never found so ungovernable and awkward before. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxi. (1787) III. 251 The ungovernable spirit of a Barbarian host, impatient of peace or discipline. 1843A. Bethune Sc. Fireside Stor. 100 He fell into a most ungovernable passion. 1876T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 400 As if by an ungovernable impulse, Ethelberta broke into laughter also.
c. Of things.
1773Cook Voy. S. Pole ii. ii. (1777) I. 205 Having unshipped the rudder, which rendered her vngovernable. 1839F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia (1863) 58 The stiff and ungovernable hair. 1852Hawthorne True Stories iii. (1879) 22 That..ungovernable wonder the wind.
Hence unˌgovernaˈbility, unˈgovernableness.
1673Lady's Calling i. ii. §13 The ungovernableness of a woman. 1701Collier M. Aurel. (1726) 96 You'd best murther your general, and add villany to your ungovernableness. 1751Eliza Heywood Betsy Thoughtless l. 103 Lamenting the ungovernableness of youth. 1853Ruskin Stones Ven. II. App. 393 The ungovernableness of its colour (changing in the furnace). 1882Pall Mall G. 20 June 2/1 As much an illustration of misgovernment as of our ungovernableness. 1968Economist 18 May 3/1 [Mr Wilson's] going might merely contribute to Britain's drift towards ungovernability. 1977Financial Times 1 Apr. 22/8 Beyond the immediate question of the invasion perhaps the most serious problem is what has been termed Zaire's fundamental ungovernability. 1983Guardian Weekly 16 Jan. 9/3 Now comes the threat the Germans call ‘ungovernability’. |