| 释义 |
unˈlikelihood
[un-1 12. Cf. unlikely a., and MDa. uligelighed.]
†1. Unlikeness, dissimilarity, discrepancy. Obs.
1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 273/1, I fond myself right fer fro the in a Regyon of unlykelyhode [L. dissimilitudinis]. 1550Thomas Ital. Dict., Disaguaglianza, vnseemelinesse, vnlikelyhoode, or the difference that is betwene the comparison of one thyng to an other. 1564Brief Exam. 20 b, Euery man..may see a great vnlikelyhood betwixt those tymes and ours. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 573 By which likenesse in name great confusion and vnlikelihoods haue happened in Historie.
2. The state or fact of being unlikely; improbability.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John xix. 109 So muche vnlikelyhoode was it, that the felowship of punishement should defyle hym. 1598R. Bernard tr. Terence, Andria ii. ii, Hauing gathered by sundrie signes and coniectures the vnlikelihood of the marriage. 1646Earl of Monmouth tr. Biondi's Civil Wars ix. 199 By the Unlikelyhood and Impossibility that he should escape the hands of a Crafty..Uncle. 1695J. Edwards Perfect. Script. 238 There was no unlikelihood of the thing. 1767Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. Ser. ii. (1862) I. 116 Knowing the unlikelihood of your being to return to us. 1794Paley Evid. ii. viii, The extreme unlikelihood that such men should engage in such a measure. 1860C. M. Yonge Stokesley Secret xii, The exceeding unlikelihood of a girl like Elizabeth committing..a theft. 1877Freeman Norm. Conq. I. vi. 462 Statements which have no inherent unlikelihood in them.
b. With a and pl. An improbable occurrence, fact, statement, etc.
a1550Leland Itin. (1769) II. 35 Dyvers Brethren dyed.., and by a great vnlykelihod al the Landes descendid to..the Yonggest of the Brethren. 1561J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 2, I will shew the lykelyhodes and the vnlykelyhodes. 1647Jer. Taylor Lib. Proph. ii. 41 The rarest mixture..of unlikelihoods that I have observed. 1682Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 188 By the severall contradictions and unlikelyhoods in his evidence. 1738G. Lillo Marina iii. ii, What strange unlikelihood assaults my mind! 1814Southey Roderick xii. 14, I will believe that we have days in store Of hope,..Yea, maugre all unlikelihoods,..of peace. 1862Lever Barrington xv, He hesitated how to measure an unlikelyhood. |