单词 | sisyphean |
释义 | Sisypheanadj. Of or relating to Sisyphus, in Greek mythology a king of Corinth who was condemned in Hades endlessly to roll a heavy stone up a hill only for it to roll down again as he reached the top; resembling Sisyphus or that of Sisyphus; spec. (of labour, a task, etc.) resembling the fruitless toil of Sisyphus; endless, laborious, and ineffective. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > uselessness, vanity, or futility > [adjective] > profitless or unrewarding > specifically of labour thanklessa1547 Sisyphian1599 Danausa1628 Sisyphean1635 Danaïdean1884 1635 F. Quarles Emblemes iii. xv. 182 I barter sighs for teares; and teares for Grones, Still vainly rolling Sysiphæan stones. a1657 G. Daniel Poems (1878) I. 11 Thus I roll Sisyphean Stones, and play (Which he can never) all my time away. 1789 H. L. Piozzi Observ. Journey France I. 223 Whoever seeks to convince instead of persuade an Italian, will find he has been employed in a Sisyphean labour. 1869 J. R. Lowell in Atlantic Almanac 1870 45/1 First comes the Sisyphean toil of rolling the clammy balls. 1895 B. Kidd Social Evol. ix. 245 Do we only see therein humanity condemned to an aimless Sisyphean labour? 1946 Times Lit. Suppl. 20 July 346/3 At the summit of the Sisyphean hill up which the husbandman for centuries has rolled his seasons, stands now, like a new sun, the combine-harvester. 1971 Minnesota Hist. 42 225/1 The celebration..marked the culmination of a century of determined but seemingly Sisyphean efforts to gain equal access to the ballot box. 2002 Washington Post 19 Aug. (Home ed.) c3/5 Her daily existence is the Sisyphean task of relieving her son's pain. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < adj.1635 |
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