| 释义 |
unˈworthiness
[f. as prec., or un-1 12.]
1. The character or quality of being unworthy; lack of worth, absence of merit. † Occas. with to.
a1340Hampole Psalter ci. 18 Þat knawis þaire frelte & vnworthynes. c1400Love Bonavent. Mirr. (1908) 119 With grete drede of hir vnworthinesse that hir teres schulde touche oure lordes feete. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 2 The unwurthynesse Bothe of hys persone and eek hys name. 1485Rolls of Parlt. VI. 274/1 The aforesaid Actes of Atteindre or Forfeiture, disableing, unworthi[n]esse, and unableing. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 169 b, The vylenesse, vnkyndnesse, & vnworthynesse of man to that loue. 1582Bentley Mon. Matrones iii. 278 Not remembering, good Lord, mine vnworthinesse..nor frailtie of my passed yeeres. 1631Gouge God's Arrows iii. §22. 223 Mans unworthinesse and unfitnesse to appeare in Gods sight. 1675Dryden Aurengz. iv. i. 1784 You will be kind to my Unworthiness. 1712Steele Spect. No. 448 ⁋1 For Men..do not keep up a lively Abhorrence of the least Unworthiness. 1771Junius Lett. xlvi. (1772) II. 173 The people..would probably over⁓look his immediate unworthiness. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvii. IV. 60 It would be absurd to reject, on account of his unworthiness, the inestimable services which it was in his power to render. 1884A. R. Pennington Wiclif viii. 255 The unworthiness of the ministers hinders not the effect of the Sacrament.
b. With an (and pl.), that, this.
1533Bellenden Livy ii. vi. (S.T.S.) I. 149 Traisting to revenge this vnwourthynes be sum..hardy Interprise. 1653Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year I. xxiii. 304 If it [sc. jesting] mingles with any sin, it puts on the nature of that new unworthinesse. 1856F. W. Faber Creator & Creature iii. i, The very unworthinesses and short-comings of the creature. 1880‘Ouida’ Moths II. 85, I think such a marriage a great unworthiness, a great disgrace.
c. With poss. pron., as a fictitious title.
1853Kingsley Hypatia I. 239 Pambo asked his name... ‘My unworthiness is called Peter the Reader.’
†2. Inappropriate or improper action. Obs.—1
1608in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 76 It was unworthiness in your Majesty's officers to find him for a Ward. |