释义 |
unreˈliable, a. (un-1 7 b.) In common use from c 1860.
1840De Quincey in Blackw. Mag. XLVIII. 516 Alcibiades..was too unsteady, and (according to Mr. Coleridge's coinage) ‘unreliable’. 1859Maury Phys. Geog. xiv. 232 Wind and weather in this part..are very unreliable and changeable. 1874W. R. Greg Rocks Ahead 63 This calculation is..not only unreliable, but purely deceptive. Hence unreˈliableness.
1862F. Hall Hindu Philos. Syst. 86 They are involved in the suspicion of unreliableness. 1872Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lxxiii. 4 The unreliableness of mere feelings shown.
Add: unreˈliably adv.
1909in Webster. 1912Pennsylvania State Rep. CCXXXV. 549 There appears..to be no room under the evidence for a reasonable doubt that these bells, during a considerable period, had been working unreliably. 1988Financial Times 7 July 25/8 The poetic atmosphere came and went unreliably. |