| 释义 |
inconspicuous, a.|ɪnkənˈspɪkjuːəs|
[f. late L. inconspicu-us + -ous; see in-3 and conspicuous.]
†1. That cannot be seen; invisible. Obs.
1624[implied in inconspicuousness 1]. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xvii. 128 Those lesser and inconspicuous parcels of Air. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. §18. 333 The Life or Soul's passing into the Invisible or Inconspicuous. 1708Brit. Apollo No. 72. 2/1 The Moon, while in Conjunction with the Sun, is Inconspicuous. 1751–73Jortin Eccl. Hist. (R.), Socrates in Xenophon..says that the Deity is inconspicuous.
†b. Not discernible to the mental eye. Obs.
1648Boyle Seraph. Love (1660) 18 Their greatest Accomplishments compar'd to His Perfections..are..as inconspicuous as the faint Qualities of more ordinary Persons. 1713Berkeley Guardian No. 70 ⁋2 The joint beauty of the whole or the distinct use of its parts were inconspicuous. 1793T. Taylor Orat. Julian 122 note, The occult art by which they were fabricated..was inconspicuous.
2. Not readily seen or noticed; not prominent or striking in appearance or character.
1828Webster, Inconspicuous..2. Not conspicuous. 1835Sir J. Ross Narr. 2nd Voy. xvii. 266 There was an inconspicuous aurora. 1854Hooker Himal. Jrnls. II. xxiv. 170 In inconspicuous scattered tufts. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt xlv, A veil drawn down gave her a sufficiently inconspicuous appearance. 1886Swinburne Misc. 24 Shakespeare who led an inconspicuous life.
b. spec. in Bot. Of flowers, when small, green, or of pale colour.
1845Lindley Sch. Bot. iv. (1858) 40 Flowers usually racemose, very often small and inconspicuous. 1863Bates Nat. Amazon I. 70 The majority of forest-trees in equatorial Brazil have small and inconspicuous flowers. 1880C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark xxii. 238 A wide-spreading melastomaceous plant, with inconspicuous flowers.
Hence inconˈspicuously adv. † invisibly (obs.); so as not to be readily perceived.
1661Boyle Spring Air (1682) 95 The particles of air which..inconspicuously lurk within the Bladder. 1893Christian at Work (N.Y.) 13 Apr., This Chamber has..shared not inconspicuously in the history..[of] both church and state. |