| 释义 |
unsubˈstantial, a.
[un-1 7 and 5 b.]
1. Having no real basis or foundation in fact.
c1455Pecock Folewer 114 Þe dyuersite..was not but in wordis oonli and in fame of þe peple wiþout þe trouþ, which ful oft is founde ful vntrewe, vnsubstancial and perilose. 1715Rowe Lady Jane Gray iv. 48 The vain Dream Of Empire, and a Crown,..With all those unsubstantial empty Forms. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. xiii. I. 399 These deep but unsubstantial meditations. 1810Southey Kehama vii. xi, Nor build on unsubstantial hope thy trust. 1833–4J. Phillips Geol. in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VI. 688/2 Every new, fanciful, and unsubstantial theory. 1883Sir H. Cotton in Law Rep. 11 Q.B. Div. 532 If the counter-claim is frivolous and unsubstantial.
2. Having no bodily or material substance.
1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. iii. 103 Shall I beleeue that vnsubstantiall death is amorous? 1605― Lear iv. i. 7 Welcome then, Thou vnsubstantiall ayre that I embrace. 1671Milton P.R. iv. 399 Darkness..brought in lowring night Her shadowy off-spring, unsubstantial both. 1742Young Nt. Th. ix. 118 What lengths of far-fam'd ages..roll along In unsubstantial images of air! 1794G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. III. xxix. 198 Time and space, which in themselves are unsubstantial, inanimate, and destitute of intelligence. 1827Pollok Course T. iii. 412 Of all the phantoms,..Most unsubstantial, unessential shade, Was earthly Fame. 1871L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. ii. 82 Hill and plain, apparently unsubstantial as a mountain mist. 1885R. Bridges Eros & Psyche i. vi, To man's purer unsubstantial part The brightness of her presence was addressed.
b. Lacking in substance or solidity. Also Comb.
1617Hieron Wks. II. xxvi. 363 If you shall pill it [sc. a rush], what is vnder it but a kind of spongious, vnsubstantiall substance? 1773Cook's Voy. iii. xi. III. 690 They taste not unlike a green cocoa-nut, and, like them, probably they yield a nutriment that is watry and unsubstantial. 1825J. Neal Bro. Jonathan II. 195 Wasted away, in her unsubstantial proportions. 1842Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 18/1 The suburbs are..even more unsubstantial-looking than the city. 1848Mill Pol. Econ. i. xi. §3. 203 We can scarcely conceive more unsubstantial or temporary fabrics.
Hence unsubˈstantialness.
1860Pusey Min. Proph. 465 The unsubstantialness of it all, the unsubstantiality of his lies. |
