| 释义 |
inimitable, a. (n.)|ɪnˈɪmɪtəb(ə)l|
[ad. L. inimitābilis, f. in- (in-3) + imitābilis imitable; cf. F. inimitable (15–16th c. in Godef. Compl.).]
1. Incapable of being imitated; surpassing or defying imitation; without compare; peerless.
1531Elyot Gov. i. xxiii, For the natiue and inimitable eloquence..he semeth to put all other wryters of like matters to silence. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 922 His stile was thought to be plaine and easie, howbeit, inimitable. 1692Dryden St. Euremont's Ess. 122 Such is the Character of Sempronia, in my Judgment inimitable. 1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters III. 333 [It is] exquisitely performed by the inimitable chemistry of nature. 1843J. Martineau Chr. Life (1867) 86 The inimitable beauties of the lilies of the field. 1899Sayce Early Israel v. 191 We have an inimitable portrait.
2. Not deserving of imitation; not to be imitated. rare.
1798Washington Lett. Writ. 1893 XIV. 6 My mind..is not a little agitated by the outrageous conduct of France towards the United States, and at the inimitable conduct of its partisans, who aid and abet their measures.
B. as n. An inimitable person.
1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) IV. 274 All matters betwixt me and my fair inimitable.
Hence inˈimitableness, inimitability.
1660N. Ingelo Bentivolio & Urania i. (1682) 99 He prais'd the inimitableness of his Love, that would feed the bodies of his Subjects with his own. 1871Ruskin Fors Clav. I. ii. 18 We..need not now have been..lecturing..on the inimitableness of the works of Fra Angelico. |
