| 释义 |
unˈcertainly, adv.
[un-1 11.]
1. In an uncertain or variable manner; at random, by chance or accident.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 217 Þese trowed þat al þing was vncertenliche i-made. 1530Palsgr. 160 They use these sixe..uncertainly, somtyme of the masculyne gendre and somtyme of the feminyne. 1590Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 12 With the swelling of the salt water..they shall shoote verie vncertainlie. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. Pref., That Motion of Sensless Atoms Declining Uncertainly from the Perpendicular. 1737Whiston Josephus, Antiq. v. vii. §7 The affairs of the Hebrews were managed uncertainly, and tended to disorder, and to the contempt of God.
b. At an indefinite time. rare—1.
1683E. Hooker Pref. Pordage's Mystic Div. 25 When the inexorabl Messenger, whose Name is the First Death, shal com (as certenly, and yet, as uncertenly hee wil).
2. Without definite result, course, or aim.
1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 129 Whyle the matter was thus vncerteynly debated. 1567Jewel Def. Apol. 152 Therefore the Prieste iudginge that, yt he cannot know, muste needes wander vncertainely, and be a very doubteful Iudge. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 484 It were better for them to settle in any one certaine place whatsoever, than still to wander uncertainely upon the seas. 1662Playford Skill Mus. iii. (1674) 38 Doing that safely and resolutely which others attempt timorously and uncertainly. 1696Whiston Th. Earth iii. (1722) 278 [They] floated in the Waters among one another uncertainly. 1883Century Mag. XXVI. 44 The poor beast ran uncertainly in all directions.
3. Without clear or definite knowledge or statement; doubtfully, undecidedly.
1613William I in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 144 The slaughter of the English is uncertainly reported. 1664Pepys Diary 11 Nov., Some in Germany do derive them⁓selves from the patrician families of Rome, but that uncertainly. 1742Jura Ecclesiastica II. 351 To that two great Objections were made, that this Custom is unreasonable in itself and uncertainly set forth. 1795Phil. Trans. LXXXV. 154, I have perceived this phænomenon only eleven times with perfect certainty, and only a few other times uncertainly. 1860Pusey Min. Proph. 104 Joel fore⁓told, not as uncertainly, not as anticipation, or hope, or longing, but absolutely and distinctly, that [etc.]. 1878A. Brassey Voy. Sunbeam xv. 255 A group of low islets whose position is very uncertainly indicated in the charts. |