| 释义 |
maleficent, a.|məˈlɛfɪsənt|
[f. L. maleficent-, altered stem (cf. magnificent) of maleficus malefic a.]
1. Of things and spiritual agencies: Working harm, hurtful, malefic. Const. to.
1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. §13. 219 That before the..Formation of the World, there was Unformed and disorderly Matter existing (from Eternity) together with a Maleficent Soul. 1786tr. Beckford's Vathek (1868) 107 Our people have fled, and left us at the mercy of maleficent spirits. 1793Hist. in Ann. Reg. 182 Principles maleficent to all government and order. 1835Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. II. xvi. 86 Whether these animals are really as venemous and maleficent as they were said to be of old..seems very doubtful. 1846Grote Greece i. xvi. I. 565 Beneficent and maleficent demons. 1867Sala Fr. Waterloo to Penins. I. 255 It dispenses maleficent gases, and is always going out at the wrong time. 1900W. L. Courtney Idea Trag. 67 The mundane sphere in which the beneficent and maleficent forces are warring.
2. Of persons, their acts and dispositions: Wrong-doing, criminal.
1760tr. Vattell's Law Nat. ii. v. §70 Let us apply to the unjust, what we have said above of a mischievous, or maleficent nation. 1811–31Bentham Ess. Lang. Wks. 1843 VIII. 316 The sort of act thus described is a maleficent act. 1829― Justice & Cod. Petit. 50 No man is maleficent without a motive. |