释义 |
well-meant, ppl. a. a. Rightly, honestly, or kindly intended; said or done with good intention.
1476J. Paston in P. Lett. III. 159, I have herd oft tymys Rychard Stratton sey that ye can and wyll take every thyng well that is well ment. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. iii. 67 His demand Springs not from Edwards well-meant honest Loue, But from Deceit, bred by Necessitie. 1628R. Hayman in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1918) Jan. 31 The poore successe of diuers of these well meant general treatises. 1707Atterbury Vind. Doctr. Funeral Serm. Bennet 4 Had I err'd in this case, it had been a well-meant Mistake. 1816Scott Old Mort. xxxviii, My ill-timed, though well-meant, request. 1886Besant Childr. Gibeon ii. xxiv, Valentine's well-meant, but perhaps injudicious interference. b. quasi-n. (with personification).
1602[see well-done 2 d]. c. Of persons: well-meaning. rare.
1849C. Brontë Shirley I. vii. 153 A well-looked, well-meant, and on the whole, well-dispositioned girl. |