| 释义 |
indiscernible, a. and n.|ɪndɪˈzɜːnɪb(ə)l, -ˈsɜːn-|
Also 7 -able.
[f. in-3 + discernible: cf. F. indiscernable (1582 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
A. adj.
1. Incapable of being discerned by the senses or intellect; imperceptible; undiscoverable.
1635Swan Spec. M. v. §2 (1643) 148 Dew..falleth down in very small and indiscernible drops. 1640W. Crabtrie in Phil. Trans. XXVII. 283 The light of the Sun..doth make it..indiscernable. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 18 An Animal..whose whole bulk to the bare eye is quite indiscernable. 1754Sherlock Disc. (1759) I. 63 His Wisdom and Holiness, and even his Mercy, are as indiscernible as his Justice. 1853Reade Chr. Johnstone 34 A rapid look, indiscernible by male eye. 1879C. Rossetti Seek & F. 192 Be the stars at a given moment discernible or indiscernible by our vision.
2. That cannot be distinguished (from something else); indistinguishable. Obs. or arch.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xxv. 176 That red and sanguineous humor..affording in linnen or paper an indiscernable tincture from blood. 1825Waterton Wand. S. Amer. i. (1887) 79 The mountains gradually retire..till they are indiscernible from the clouds in which they are involved.
B. n.
1. A thing (animal, etc.) that cannot be discerned by the senses.
1835Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. (1852) I. 162 The infusories, or as they have been also called animalcules, microscopic animals, acrita or indiscernibles.
2. Metaph. A thing that cannot be distinguished from some other thing or things.
identity of indiscernibles: the doctrine that things cannot exist together as separate entities unless they have different attributes.
1717S. Clarke Leibnitz' 5th Paper 173 The Supposition of two Indiscernibles, such as two Pieces of Matter perfectly alike, seems indeed to be possible in abstract Terms. 1877E. Caird Philos. Kant Introd. v. 82 Where there is no difference, there is no activity, and hence no substance or individuality. This is the meaning of the celebrated ‘identity of indiscernibles’. 1882Sat. Rev. 11 Mar. 289 Mr. Gladstone, whose ingenuity in detecting the non-identity of indiscernibles..has been sharpened by this matter to a preternatural degree.
Hence indiˈscernibleness, the quality of being indiscernible; indiˈscernibly adv., in an indiscernible manner, imperceptibly.
1643T. Goodwin Child of Night 61 He is able indiscernibly to communicate all his false reasonings. 1648Hammond Serm. iv. Wks. 1684 IV. 494, I should have shew'd you also the indiscernibleness (to the eye of man) of the difference of these distant states. 1821De Quincey Richter Wks. 1860 XIV. 117 The pathetic and the humorous..melt indiscernibly into each other. 1885Sat. Rev. 30 May 717 The human mind is seldom found in such a state of indiscernibleness. |