| 释义 |
inessential, a. (n.)|ɪnɪˈsɛnʃəl|
[in-3.]
A. adj.
1. Devoid of essence; unsubstantial, immaterial.
1677Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. 237 Of these Names [of the Deity] some are negative, signifying that Superessential Being: as, inessential, without time, independent. 1754Armstrong Forced Marriage v. xi, Are you not a ghost then?..as inessential As the vain rainbow? 1813Shelley Q. Mab vii. 71 His inessential figure cast no shade Upon the golden floor. 1818― Rev. Islam i. xxv, When life and thought Sprang forth, they burst the womb of inessential Nought.
2. Not essential, not of the essence of a thing; not necessary or indispensable to the constitution or existence of any thing.
1836Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. xviii. 264 To consider man as inessential to the order of nature. 1849Ruskin Sev. Lamps ii. §19. 50 Ornament is an extravagant and inessential thing. 1886Symonds Renaiss. It., Cath. React. (1898) VII. viii. 6 Details so insignificant as to be inessential.
B. n. That which is inessential.
1778Bentham View Hard-Labour Bill §45 Wks. 1843 IV. 24 An anxious attention to the inessentials and externals of religion. 1825Engl. Life II. 265 She yields to me in what she terms inessentials. 1902Daily Chron. 22 Apr. 3/3 If we ignore the inessentials of place, costume, speech and employment, friendship is the same to-day as it has been for a myriad of yesterdays. 1927Observer 22 May 8 Stripped of its inessentials (which are too roughly handled) his story comes down to this [etc.]. 1960J. Betjeman Summoned by Bells 96 All the inessentials of the Faith. |