| 释义 |
consistent, a. and n.|kənˈsɪstənt|
Also 7 -ant.
[ad. L. consistent-em, pr. pple. of consistĕre: see consist: cf. F. consistant, It. consistente.]
A. adj.
†1. Standing still or firm; staying, remaining: as opposed to moving or giving way. Obs.
1604T. Wright Passions ii. 318 Although the body be consistent in one place, yet the soule runneth..or rather, flieth from country to country. 1664Evelyn Sylva (1679) 13 Transplanted Pines and Firrs..are hardly consistent against these Gusts.
†2. Remaining in the same state or condition; settled, persistent; durable. Obs.
1647Crashaw Poems 157 Whose full and all-unwrinkled face Nor sinks nor swells with time or place; But everywhere, and everywhile, Is one consistent solid smile. 1672Sir T. Browne Lett. Friend iii. (1881) 129 We run through variety of looks, before we come to consistent and settled faces. 1684Contempl. State Man i. vi. 58 A fair Vessel of Chrystal, if it were as consistent and durable as Gold.
†b. consistent age: the age when growth has ceased and before decay begins; the age of maturity (see consistence 1 b). Obs.
1574T. N[ewton] tr. Gratarolus Title-p., Such as bee in their consistent age, or neere thereunto. 1620Venner Via Recta vii. 137 Very wholsome..especially for them that be past their consistent age.
†3. Consisting in or of, composed of. Obs.
1578Banister Hist. Man i. 31 The first, and second of the other fingers..both their extremities are consistent in heades. 1654tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 186 An Army consistent of an hundred thousand men. 1671Grew Anat. Plants i. v. §17 Every consistent of more than one..and for the most part of Three Pieces.
4. Holding together as a coherent material body; firm, stiff, solid, cohering. (Now rare or Obs.)
1647Cowley Mistress xlvi. Coldness. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 102 For this cause the Eares were made Cartilagineous and consistent. 1674Grew Anat. Plants, Lect. i. v. 232 The one upon Fluid, the other upon consistent Bodies. 1799Scotland described (ed. 2) 16 Either a spungy turf, or a black consistent peat-earth. 1836Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 61/2 This adipose matter, though fluid, when first formed, becomes more consistent and fixed after deposition.
†5. Existing together or simultaneously with. Obs. rare.
1649Selden Laws Eng. ii. xv. (1739) 82 Both the Custos Regni, and Protector, are not subsistent, but consistent with that of a King, because it supposes a King under incapacity. 1733Pope Ess. Man iii. 315 So two consistent motions act the Soul; And one regards Itself, and one the Whole.
6. Agreeing or according in substance or form; congruous, compatible. (This and 7 are the usual current senses.)
a. Const. with (also † to).
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. v. xv. 257 An habite..not consistent with the words of our Saviour. 1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 357 Such a sensation is very consistent with an inflammatory Distemper. 1795Cicely I. 102 Consistent was it to her character. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 450 It was impudent in them to pretend that their present conduct was consistent with their former language. 1868Mill Eng. & Irel., The rule of Ireland now rightfully belongs to those who, by means consistent with justice, will make the cultivators of the soil of Ireland the owners of it.
b. absol. of two or more things; also of a single thing: = self-consistent, having its parts or elements in agreement.
1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxi. 108 Feare, and Liberty are consistent. 1664Power Exp. Philos. Pref. 20 In the erection of a more judicious and consistent Fabrick. 1726Leoni tr. Alberti's Archit. I. 38 a, A solid, regular, and consistent Structure. We call it regular and consistent when the Parts are not incongruous and disjointed, but are disposed in their proper Places. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 178 ⁋3 An attempt to make contradictions consistent. a1862Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. v. 459 The most consistent of all combinations..great ignorance with great arrogance. 1884tr. Lotze's Metaph. 240 To ask whether to such a conception of it any complete and consistent sense could be given.
†c. Used advb. = Consistently, in consistency.
1737Pope Hor. Epist. i. i. 137 Shew me one who has it in his pow'r To act consistent with himself an hour. 1750in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 101 They could not, consistent with their duty..discover it to your enemies and opponents. 1842J. Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 357 Consistent, however, with the character of the country, the mountain sheep are the most numerous.
d. spec. in Math. and Logic, (a) (of simultaneous equations) satisfied by at least one common set of values of the variables; (b) (of a statistical estimate, etc.) approaching the true value of a parameter more closely as the sample size is increased; (c) (of an axiom system) so constituted that axiomatically-derived propositions do not contradict each other.
1902J. W. Mellor Higher Math. x. 405 We conclude that three equations are consistent with each other, only when the determinant of the coefficients and absolute term[s] of three linear equations in x, y, z, are [read is] equal to zero. 1925R. A. Fisher Statistical Methods for Research Workers i. 12 Consistent statistics..all tend more and more nearly to give the correct values, as the sample is more and more increased. 1928F. P. Ramsey in Proc. London Math. Soc. XXX. 271 If it [sc. such a formula] is true for some interpretations (whether or not for all) we shall call it consistent. 1937Jrnl. Symbolic Logic II. 131 If P1 is simply consistent, the formula stating its simple consistency cannot be proved in P1. 1972A. W. F. Edwards Likelihood v. 79 This property of evaluates, that they approach the true value of the parameter (where such a concept is meaningful) as the sample size increases, is called consistency, and evaluates are said to be consistent. 1972M. Kline Math. Thought xxxviii. 913 By the early 1870s several basic non-Euclidean geometries..had been introduced... The fundamental question..was whether they were consistent. 1974G. Fuller College Algebra (ed. 3) vi. 84 Solve each pair of equations, if found consistent, by the substitution method. 1975I. Stewart Concepts Mod. Math. viii. 117 A system of axioms which does not contradict itself is said to be consistent.
7. Of persons or their conduct: Marked by consistency (see consistency 5 b); constantly adhering to the same principles of thought or action.
1732Pope Ep. Cobham 226 Consistent in our follies and our sins, Here honest Nature ends as she begins. 1764Reid Inquiry v. §7. 130 A thorough and consistent sceptic. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 236 Let us be consistent then, and either believe both or neither.
B. n.
†1. pl. ? Coexistent things or facts. Obs. rare.
1651Reliq. Wotton (1685) 419 Sir Thomas Overbury is still where he was, and as he was..The Viscount Rochester yet no way sinking in the point of Favor; which are two strange consistents.
†2. Eccl. Hist. One of the fourth or highest class of penitents (consistentes) in the Eastern Church, who took their station with the faithful, but were not admitted to communion.
a1711Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 77 Consistents, who by penitential Moan Are ripe for Priestly Absolution grown; Above the Prostrate stand, and join in Pray'r, With faithful Souls, who next the Altar are. [1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Consistentes, in church history, a kind of penitents who were allowed to assist at prayers, but could not be admitted to receive the sacrament. 1885Catholic Dict. 651 The consistentes stand together with the faithful, and do not go out with the catechumens.] |