单词 | abrasive |
释义 | abrasive (once / 11354 pages) adjn What does an obnoxious person have in common with sandpaper? Both are abrasive. Anything that grates or irritates — physically or metaphorically — can be described using this adjective. The history of the word abrasive illustrates how a word typically enters the English language and then changes with time. The English verb abrade "to wear down by scraping" entered the language from Latin abradere "to scrape off" in the late 1600s. Some 200 years later, the adjective form of the word — abrasive — came into use to describe a type of grinding tool. By the 1920s, abrasive had acquired the more figurative sense of annoying and infuriating. If you find someone abrasive, he or she grinds away at your nerves. WORD FAMILYabrasive: abrasively, abrasiveness, abrasives+/abrade: abradant, abraded, abrader, abrades, abrading, abrasion, abrasive/abrasion: abrasions USAGE EXAMPLESTrump in his own unique, almost mystical way is able to speak a common language that is abrasive and sometimes unattractive but always digestible.” Wall Street Journal(Dec 22, 2016) People often asked him about it, and he realized it might appear abrasive to some. Washington Times(Dec 06, 2016) “People expect me to be angry, bitter. They expect to me be abrasive, aggressive. I’m not.” New York Times(Dec 04, 2016) 1adj causing abrasion Syn scratchy rough, unsmooth having or caused by an irregular surface 2adj sharply disagreeable; rigorous an abrasive character Syn harsh disagreeable not to your liking 3n a substance that abrades or wears down Syn|Hypo|Hyper abradant, abrasive material carborundum an abrasive composed of silicon carbide crystals steel wool, wire woola mass of woven steel fibers used as an abrasive emery clothcloth covered with powdered emery emery paper, sandpaperstiff paper coated with powdered emery or sand material, stuff the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object |
随便看 |
英语词典包含147318条英英释义在线翻译词条,基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法,是英语学习的有利工具。