| 释义 |
Utopian, a. and n.|juːˈtəʊpɪən|
[ad. mod.L. Utopian-us (More, 1516): see prec. and -an.]
A. adj.
1. Of or belonging to the imaginary island of Utopia or its people.
1551Robinson More's Utopia Ep. (1895) 1 This boke of the vtopian commen wealth. 1556More's Utopia Printer to Rdr. (Arb.) 168 The Vtopian Alphabete. 1622J. Taylor (Water P.) Sir G. Nonsence Wks. (1630) Aa j b, He..began to declare in the Vtopian speech, what I haue here..Translated. 1633Rowley Match at Midn. v. I 1 b, Two Vtopian Trunks, full of gold and Iewels. 1681(title), A Pleasant Battle between two Lap-dogs of the Utopian Court. 1808Cayley tr. More's Utopia II. 7 That I should anticipate him in what belongs to the Utopian Commonwealth. 1895Lupton More's Utopia 117 On this and other repellent features of the Utopian character, as drawn by More.
†b. Having no known location; existing nowhere. Obs. rare.
1609in Capt. Smith Wks. (Arb.) 637 It hath beene to the Spaniards more fearefull then an Vtopian Purgatory. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. 60 They must be imagined to subsist in certain intermundane spaces and Utopian regions without the world. 1689Swift Ode to Sir W. Temple i, Search out this Utopian ground, Virtue's terra incognita.
†c. Having no assigned diocese or sphere of work. Obs.—1
1709Bingham Antiq. iv. vi, The Nullatenenses of latter Ages, as Panormitan calls Titular and Utopian Bishops.
2. Possessing or regarded as having impossibly or extravagantly ideal conditions in respect of politics, customs, social organization, etc.
In this and next sense occas. with lower-case initial.
1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 520 Yea, no Vtopian State comparable to theirs. 1647Mercurius Anti-pragmaticus No. 6. 4 They are like to wander forty yeeres..ere they arrive in their Utopian Paradise. 1651C. Walker Hist. iii. 14 To these..they entrust the Administration of this Utopian Commonwealth. 1768Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 302 The introduction of an Utopian state. 1782H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. IV. 284 When he was laying out so magnificent, charitable, and philosophic an Utopian villa. 1855Kingsley Westw. Ho! xix, When we have babbled together of Utopian governments in days which are now dreams to me. 1856H. Rogers Ess. II. viii. 380 Considered as a possible political structure..Plato's ‘Republic’ deserves to be considered the most Utopian that ever entered the mind of man.
b. Involving, based or founded on, imaginary or chimerical perfection; impossibly ideal, visionary.
1621Burton Anat. Mel. To Rdr. 58 Vtopian parity is a thing to be wished for rather then effected. 1643Prynne Sov. Power Parl. App. 1 A new Utopian absolute Royall Prerogative..not bottomed on the Lawes of God or the Realm. 1646J. Cook Vind. Law 28 Thats but a Vtopian consideration, a possibility which never comes into Act. 1659Bp. Walton Consid. Considered 72 This, I doubt, will prove an Utopian conceit. 1762Kaimes Elem. Crit. ii. (1774) I. 35 For confuting such Utopian systems without the fatigue of reasoning. 1798Ferriar Illustr. Sterne iii. 59 He indulges himself in an Utopian sketch of a perfect government. 1806H. Siddons Maid, Wife, & W. III. 6 The sentiments which inspired me may be laughed at as Utopian. 1849C. Brontë Shirley ix, Marriage! I cannot bear the word: it sounds so silly and utopian. 1877Burroughs Taxation 22 They have regarded any attempt to practise absolute equality as Utopian.
3. Of persons: That belongs to or dwells in a Utopia. rare—1.
1620J. Taylor (Water P.) Jack a Lent Wks. (1630) 113/2 As Nymshag an ancient Vtopian Philosopher declares.
b. That conceives, proposes, or advocates impracticably ideal projects or schemes for social welfare, etc.; believing in or aiming at the perfecting of polity or social conditions.
1597–8Donne Let. to Sir H. Wotton 46 If men..Durst looke for themselves..They would like strangers greet themselves, seeing than Utopian youth, growne old Italian. 1661Cowley Cromwell Wks. 1906 II. 373 You are..a Theoretical Common-wealths-man, an Utopian Dreamer. 1680Butler Characters (1908) 24 A Republican is a civil Fanatic, an Utopian Senator. 1691Baxter Nat. Ch. xii. 52 As capable of Governing one Kingdom, as an Utopian College of Bishops (that some dream of). 1857W. Smith Thorndale v. iii. (1858) 427 An Eclectic and Utopian Philosopher. 1868Peard Water-farm. xi. 114 We are not so Utopian as to assert that [etc.].
B. n.
1. A native or inhabitant of Utopia; a dweller in some Utopia. Also Comb.
1551Robinson tr. More's Utopia ii. (1895) 218 The wyttes therefore of the Vtopians..be maruelous quycke. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xxxvi. §4 Such suttle opinions as few but Vtopians are likely to fall into. 1614Raleigh Hist. World iii. viii. §1 They liued Vtopian-like, saue that they vsed no other occupation than Warre. 1684Burnet tr. More's Utopia Pref. A 7 The precaution used in Marriages among the Utopians. 1771J. Adams Diary 10 Nov., The good humor,..and wisdom of the Utopians, is charming. 1857W. Smith Thorndale iv. v. (1858) 312, I know not precisely how his Utopians intend to deal with war. 1905Edin. Rev. Oct. 426 The admiration of the Utopians..was by no means confined to the strictly classical authors.
2. One who conceives, proposes, or introduces schemes supposed or intended to bring about improved or perfect social and political conditions, etc.; an advocate of social reform.
a1873Lytton in Life (1883) I. 101 My grandfather..in youth..was a Utopian, and remained to the last much more than a ‘Whig’. 1878Seeley Stein II. 363 Stein..was never the utopian here described. 1887J. C. Morison Serv. Man p. xxiv, He looks with coldness on Utopians who are equally ignorant of capital, labour, or hard work.
Hence Uˈtopianist = Utopian n. 2.
1854J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) II. xxix. 556 What seemed a crime to the eyes of Utopianists. 1876Contemp. Rev. xxviii. 447 Neither abandoned nor disregarded by a few devoted Utopianists.
Add: uˈtopianly adv.
1960Spectator 20 May 733/1 If the French Government or, perhaps less utopianly, one of those admirable ‘pirate’ firms in America, can be persuaded to issue the full score. 1984N.Y. Times 29 Apr. xxii. 23/1 They either expect too much or they don't expect enough. They tend, when they think politically, to think utopianly. |