| 释义 |
condone, v.|kənˈdəʊn|
[ad. L. condōnāre to present, give up, remit, forgive, pardon, f. con- altogether + dōnāre to give: see donation, pardon.
Early dictionary entries appar. merely reproduce the Lat. vb.: 1623 Cockeram, Condone, to giue.1656Blount Glossogr., Condone or Condonate, to give willingly, to forgive, or pardon. 1731Bailey vol. II, Condone, to pardon, to forgive. Not in Johnson, Ash, Todd, Richardson, Webster 1828, or Craig 1847.]
1. trans. To forgive or overlook (an offence), so as to treat it as non-existent; esp. to forgive tacitly by not allowing the offence to make any difference in one's relations with the offender:
a. in technical use, in reference to a violation of the marriage vow.[In its Latin form, a term of the Canon Law and of the casuists: cf. Sanchez De Sancti Matrimonii Sacramento Disputt. (Antwerp 1607) citing Barbosa, ‘Reconciliationem conjugis esse duplicem..expressam, tacitam..tacita autem est quando facto ipso animus condonandi indicatur.’ Hence it came into the Divorce Act of 1857, and thus into ordinary use. The n. condonation had been in earlier use, having been orig. taken from the casuists as a theological term.] 1857Act 20 & 21 Vict. c. 85 §31 (The Divorce Act), And shall not find that the petitioner has..condoned the adultery complained of. 1858Ld. St. Leonards Handy-bk. Prop. Law xii. 75 The petition will be dismissed if the petitioner has been accessory or conniving..or has condoned (or forgiven) the adultery.
b. in ordinary use.
1857R. Congreve Ess. (1874) 84, I conceive we did wrong in seizing India. No subsequent experience warrants our considering that wrong as condoned. 1858Froude Hist. Eng. III. 273 Charles in his consent would condone before the world the affront of the divorce of Catherine. 1859De Quincey Ld. Carlisle on Pope Wks. XIII. 30 note, We ‘condone’ his cowardice, to use language of Doctors’ Commons. 1868Milman St. Paul's i. 9 The Pope condoned the irregularity.
c. loosely. To approve or sanction, usu. tacitly; to tolerate.
1962K. Kesey One flew over Cuckoo's Nest iv. 303 Every one of these people gave him a look like the whole thing had been planned by him, or at least condoned and authorized. 1965A. J. P. Taylor Eng. Hist. 1914–45 xi. 372 The League..had refused to condone the use of force. 1975Facts on File 26 July 536 It condoned experimental use of sheep collars containing sodium cyanide, a lethal but non-persistent poison. 1985Financial Times 13 Apr. 16/4 Condoning surrogacy as a solution is surely not justified on either ethical or practical grounds.
2. Of actions, facts: To cause the condonation of.
1871Daily News 21 Sept., That fact alone would condone many shortcomings. 1874H. R. Reynolds John Bapt. iii. §1. 150 The willingness of the people to relinquish irksome duty..has almost condoned the assumptions and devices of priestcraft. |