| 释义 |
inelegant, a.|ɪnˈɛlɪgənt|
[a. F. inélégant (15–16th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. inēlegānt-em, f. in- (in-3) + ēlegānt-em elegant.]
Not elegant.
1. Wanting in grace of form or manner; ungraceful; unrefined; clumsy, coarse, unpolished.
1570Levins Manip. 26/5 Inelegant, inelegans. 1623Cockeram, Inelegant, not decked, rough. 1753Hogarth Anal. Beauty vi. 31 When the forms..are inelegant, that is, when they are composed of unvaried lines. 1768Boswell Corsica (ed. 2) 23 The church of St. John in this city, by no means an inelegant building. 1827Lytton Pelham viii. 21 Vincent's somewhat inelegant person.
b. esp. of language and literary stlye.
1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) I. 7 A maner of wrytinge nat inelegant. 1755World No. 106 (1823) III. 8 If the dispute be about a Greek word, and he pronounces it to be inelegant. 1779–81Johnson L.P., Rochester Wks. II. 199 His imitation of Horace on Lucilius is not inelegant. 1824L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 5) I. 293 Such expressions..are very inelegant, and do not suit the idiom of our language.
†c. Not of delicate taste or flavour. Obs.
1708J. Philips Cyder i. 49 Ample Fruit..pleasing to Sight, But to the Tongue inelegant and flat.
d. Of a medical preparation: cf. elegant 5 b.
1876Bartholow Mat. Med. (1879) 150 The decoction, although officinal, is inelegant and faulty.
2. Wanting in æsthetic refinement or delicacy.
a. Of things.
1667Milton P.L. v. 335 Order, so contriv'd as not to mix Tastes, not well joyned, inelegant. 1712Steele Spect. No. 521 ⁋4 Fort Knock has occasioned several very perplexed and inelegant Heats and Animosities. 1736Bolingbroke Patriot. (1749) 13 They wander about from one object to another, of vain curiosity, or inelegant pleasure. 1834Lytton Pompeii 245 [It was] thought inelegant among the Romans to entertain less than three or more than nine at their banquets. 1840Macaulay Ess., Ranke (1851) II. 138 Letters and the fine arts undoubtedly owe much to this not inelegant sloth.
†b. Of persons. Obs.
1735Somerville Chase i. 59 What remains On living Coals they broil, inelegant Of Taste. 1756Connoisseur No. 130 ⁋2, I am..the unfortunate wife of that inelegant (I had almost said insensible) husband. 1782V. Knox Ess. (1819) II. cxvii. 293 A common and inelegant spectator.
3. (nonce-use from late L.) Not in harmony with the main body of the Law.
1832Austin Jurispr. (1879) II. xxx. 552 This want of harmony or consistency with the great bulk of the system the Roman Lawyers denote..‘inelegantia juris’. Now the Canon or Civil Laws (as they obtain in England) may be singular or inelegant but they are not less portions of the general law.
Hence inˈelegantness, inelegancy (Bailey vol. II. 1727). |