| 释义 |
incongruity|ɪnkənˈgruːɪtɪ|
[ad. med.L. incongruitās, f. in- (in-3) + congruitās congruity: cf. F. incongruité (1529 in Hatz.-Darm.) perh. the immediate source.]
The quality, condition, or fact of being incongruous; an instance of this.
1. Disagreement in character or qualities; want of accordance or harmony; discrepancy, inconsistency. (Now often with some colour of sense 2.)
1612Ld. Rochester in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. III. 229 That incongruity betwixt your Highnes age and hirs is one inconvenience which neither syde can help. 1664Power Exp. Philos. ii. 149 We have tried Oyl and Water, and no Motion at all was perceived, for the same reason of incongruity. 1672Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 269 Never was there such Incongruity and Nonconformity in their furniture. 1704F. Fuller Med. Gymn. (1711) 251, I have often..admir'd the Incongruity of the Circumstances of Humane Life. 1807Rees Cycl. s.v. Congruity, Incongruity denotes an unfitness of their surfaces for joining together. Thus quicksilver will unite with gold..but will roll off from wood. 1850Kingsley Alt. Locke xxvii, The quaint incongruity of the priestly and the lay elements in his speech.
b. (with pl.) An instance or point of disagreement; a discrepancy, an inconsistency.
a1610Healey Epictetus' Man. Ep. Ded., In extenuation of so many incongruities. a1720Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Wks. (1753) II. 112 We ought to believe it well and wisely done, whatever incongruities may appear in it. 1830Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. 43 There we find no contradictions, no incongruities, but all is harmony. 1868Bain Ment. & Mor. Sc. xiii. (ed. 2) 315 The most commonly assigned cause of the Ludicrous is Incongruity; but all incongruities are not ludicrous.
2. Want of accordance with what is reasonable or fitting; unsuitableness, inappropriateness, absurdity.
1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xx. §9 As if they who abolish legends could not without incongruitie reteine..Homilies. 1660H. More Myst. Godl. vi. ii. 218 To shew there is no incongruity nor inconvenience in it. 1696Phillips (ed. 5), Incongruity,..Figuratively said of Faults committed against Civility, against Decency, and the received Customs of the World. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 92 ⁋1 Without incongruity..we cannot speak of geometrical beauty. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 130 He felt no incongruity in the veteran..correcting the youthful Socrates. 1877Black Green Past. xxiv, She thought it arose from a sarcastic appreciation of the incongruity of his presence there.
b. (with pl.) An instance of such disagreement; an inappropriate matter; an absurdity.
a1626Bp. Andrewes Serm. (1856) I. 333 How great, gross, and foul an incongruity it is to pour out ourselves into sin..when we go forth to correct sin. 1663Gerbier Counsel 1 The incongruities committed by many undertakers of Buildings. 1748Smollett Rod. Rand. xlv, The only Expedient I know..is to lay hold of some incongruity he has uttered. 1882A. Macfarlane Consanguin. 16 There was an incongruity in using the two phrases as equivalent.
3. Want of harmony of parts or elements; want of self-consistency; incoherence. Also (with pl.) something incoherent or not self-consistent.
a1532Remedie of Love 2 This werke who so shal see or rede Of any incongruitie doe me not impeche. a1653Gouge Comm. Heb. ii. 10 In this there is no great incongruity. 1729Butler Serm. Self-deceit Wks. 1874 II. 122 Hence arises that amazing incongruity, and seeming inconsistency of character. 1823Scott Peveril xxxii, Had Julian been inclined for mirth,..he must have smiled at the incongruity of the clerk's apparel. 1876Mozley Univ. Serm. viii. 179 The whole story is one grand incongruity; a splendid illusion.
†4. Gram. Violation of the rules of concord; grammatical incorrectness; solecism. Obs.
1573–80Baret Alv. I 97 Incongruitie, solœcismus. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxi. (Arb.) 256 Some maner of speaches..are euer vndecent, namely barbarousnesse, incongruitie, ill disposition. Ibid. xxii. 258 Your next intollerable vice is solecismus or incongruitie..that is by misusing the Grammaticall rules to be obserued in cases, genders, tenses, and such like. 1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. xv. (1627) 199, I have found my schollers to misse most in these... Incongruity in their concords. |