| 释义 |
inefficient, a. (n.)|ɪnɪˈfɪʃənt|
[f. in-3 + efficient.]
Not efficient; failing to produce, or incapable of producing, the desired effect; ineffective. Of a person: Not effecting or accomplishing something; deficient in the ability or industry required for what one has to do; not fully capable.
1750Chesterfield Lett. (1774) II. 337 He is as insipid in his pleasure, as inefficient in every thing else. 1804W. Tennant Ind. Recreat. II. 240 Ploughs..of a more awkward, and inefficient structure than those I have already described. 1833H. Martineau Berkeley the Banker i. viii. 165 When the law was found inefficient the punishment was increased. 1839Keightley Hist. Eng. II. 75 He..rarely promoted an inefficient person. 1879H. George Progr. & Pov. ix. ii. (1881) 398 Poorly paid labor, is inefficient labor.
B. n. An inefficient person.
1898Times 16 Dec. 7/6 Ill-born, ill-fed, ill-housed, ill-clad, many of them at best are poor animals, and ‘inefficients’ by birth or degeneration. |