| 释义 |
motiveless, a.|ˈməʊtɪvlɪs|
[f. motive n. + -less.]
Having no motive.
1817Godwin Mandeville II. 75 Had not that accident given us rather a motiveless contempt and abhorrence for others? 1879M. E. Braddon Clov. Foot i, Ah!..he wants something of me. This liberality is not motiveless.
Hence ˈmotivelessly adv., ˈmotivelessness.
1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. iii. xxiv, That calm which Gwendolen had promised herself to maintain had changed into sick motivelessness. 1892Illustr. Lond. News 22 Oct. 515/1 Feelings..unreasonably, motivelessly strong. 1933L. Strachey Characters & Commentaries iv. ix. 315 This triumphant invention of the motivelessness of Iago has been dwelt upon by innumerable commentators. 1970G. Greer Female Eunuch 37 When men began to grow their hair in our generation they were not acting motivelessly. |