| 释义 |
unˈsociable, a.
[un-1 7 b and 5 b.]
1. Not sociable or companionable; not readily or pleasantly associating with others.
1600Holland Livy 292 The Tyburts..had in times past joined armes with the Frenchmen, a savage and unsociable nation. 1646H. Lawrence Comm. Angells 188 Men were so form'd for Communion, as no doctrine can be avowed for good, which renders them unsociable. 1703Rules Civility 274 [Baseness] rather makes them to be accounted base, vindictive, savage, and unsociable. 1841Dickens Barn. Rudge i, He looked unsociable enough. 1871Jowett Plato II. 319 Whether a man is righteous and gentle, or rude and unsociable. 1899W. T. Greene Cage-Birds 32 At other times..he is unsociable with his kind.
b. Of disposition, conduct, etc.
1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Water-Cormorant Wks. iii. 1 His best seruice is harsh and vnsociable. 1688Savile Lady's New-Years Gift 13 The Sullen are apt to place a great part of their Religion in Dejected and Ill-humour'd Looks, putting on an unsociable Face. 1710Tatler No. 149 ⁋5 A severe, distant, and unsociable temper. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T., Forester vii, Surprised at his unsociable silence. 1861Paley æschylus (ed. 2) Agam. 314/2 You would..reproach them for their unsociable behaviour.
2. Not readily or naturally going together; incompatible, incongruous.
1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. 779/1 This Ecclesiasticke text is handled elsewhere, and seemeth vnsociable to our begunne Subiect. 1697Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. i. 26 If Sense and Learning are such unsociable imperious things. 1779Johnson L.P., Cowley ad fin., A boundless verse, a headlong verse,..seem to comprise very incongruous and unsociable ideas. 1827Pollok Course T. v. 558 Combining things Unseemly, things unsociable in nature, In most absurd communion.
b. Incapable of, averse to, uniting.
1676Boyle in Phil. Trans. II. 785 The Vial..contain'd two unsociable Liquors. 1678Newton Let. Boyle's Wks. 1772 I. p. cxiv, There is a certain secret principle in nature, by which liquors are sociable to some things, and unsociable to others.
3. Devoid of, interfering with, social intercourse.
1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 164 An old rotten weather-beaten Inn..placed in part of an unsociable desart. 1642Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 45 Many Colonies..which lye squandered up and down in disadvantagious unsociable distances. 1861Ld. Lytton & Fane Tannhäuser 105 As one..Sunder'd by savage seas unsociable From kin and country.
Hence unˈsociableness; unˈsociably adv.
1611Florio, Insociabilita, *vnsociablenesse. 1644Prynne Ch. Govt. xii. 7 An extraordinary strangnes, unsociablenesse, and coldnesse of brotherly affection. 1871Smiles Charac. ix. 258 The comparative unsociableness of the Englishman.
1665R. Brathwait Comm. Two Tales 2 None should be so *unsociably retired, as to ingross his Conceits to himself. 1787J. White Voy. N.S. Wales (1790) 58 The pavement..is so very unsociably narrow, that two persons cannot walk with convenience together. 1977Gramophone June 117/2 Such indiscretions apart, and the inevitable rash of black sheep playing music at unsociably high volumes..the show had much to offer the keen visitor. 1981A. Fraser Splash of Red xiii. 145 She had once been prepared to toil unsociably for the whole of August. |