释义 |
correctness|kəˈrɛktnɪs| [f. as prec. + -ness.] The quality or condition of being correct; conformity to an acknowledged rule or standard, to what is considered right, or to fact; freedom from error or fault; accuracy, exactness.
1683Burnet tr. More's Utopia Pref. (1684) 11 The fidelity of the Translation, and the correctness of the English. 1695Dryden Parall. Poetry & Paint. Wks. XVII. 331 There remains nothing but a dull correctness. 1719J. Richardson Art Crit. 188 The Correctness of the Eye. 1844H. H. Wilson Brit. India III. 530 He denied the correctness of the assertion. a1859Macaulay Biog. (1867) 182 The correctness of his private life.
Add:2. Conformation to a dominant political or ideological orthodoxy: a. spec. in Communist China, adherence to Maoist doctrine (now chiefly hist.). b. In recent (chiefly N. Amer.) use, ellipt. for political correctness s.v. *political a. 6; hence with other defining terms, as eco-correctness, environmental correctness, etc.
1955F. T. C. Yu Strategy & Tactics of Chinese Communist Propaganda vi. 59 When professors and scholars praise the ‘correctness’..of Marxism-Leninism, the communists hope that the common people will be more inclined to accept the new ideology. 1957New Republic 13 May 24/1 The group is also fortified by..an absolute doctrinal authority for the ‘correctness’ of all of its solutions. 1960T. Chen Thought Reform of Chinese Intellectuals ii. 9 There is another and more important reason for Communist insistence on ideological correctness. 1977P. Fuller Jrnl. 29 Mar. in Marches Past (1986) 117 The jostling for rarefied, nuanced, over-tuned theoretical [Marxist] ‘positions’ heats up. As one might expect of 7 Carlisle Street [sc. office of the New Left Review]..everyone vies with each other for the most perverse and punishing ‘correctness’. 1992N.Y. Times 12 Feb. c1/1 The brilliant new vehicle for environmental correctness, health consciousness and graphic self-expression: toothpaste. 1993Fort Collins (Colorado) Triangle Rev. 21 Oct. 4/3 The elementary school fanfare is the last hurrah before social correctness cuts them off at the right brain. 1993USA Weekend 24 Oct. 2/2 He has a broad agenda for eco-correctness. |