| 释义 |
minuteness|mɪˈnjuːtnɪs|
[f. minute a. + -ness.]
The quality of being minute.
1. Extreme smallness; an instance of this.
1666Boyle Orig. Forms & Qual. Exp. ix. 396 Whose Corpuscles, by reason of their Minuteness, swimme easily for a while in the Water. 1754Richardson Grandison (1811) II. v. 84 The discretion of a person is often most seen in minutenesses. 1751Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 86 A convex mirrour, by which every object is reduced to a despicable minuteness. 1770C. Jenner Placid Man I. i. iv. 35 All the minutenesses which distinguish the domestic manners of one nation from another. 1830Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. 250 Particles of inconceivable minuteness. 1872Ruskin Eagle's Nest §122 The noble human sight, careless of prey, disdainful of minuteness, and reluctant to anger.
2. Attention to minute details; precision as to details; critical exactness.
1640Sir K. Digby in Lismore Papers Ser. ii. (1888) IV. 137, I am afraid..that minutenesse would rather appeare tedious then punctuall to you. 1726Swift Gulliver iv. ix, The Justness of their Similies, and the Minuteness, as well as Exactness of their Descriptions, are indeed inimitable. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) I. 193 Such..may consult Hawksbee, Morgan, Jurin, or Watson, who have examined the subject with great minuteness. 1853Lytton My Novel iii. xvi, He had studied it with the minuteness with which a scholar studies a dead language. 1858Buckle Civiliz. (1869) II. vii. 364 The chemist by his minuteness, and the geologist by his grandeur, touch the two extremes of the material universe. 1884Lady Verney in Contemp. Rev. Oct. 545 Every gown..is chronicled with affectionate minuteness.
†b. Excess of detail, ‘niggling’. Obs.
1748Anson's Voy. iii. x. 412 There is a stiffness and minuteness in most of the Chinese productions. |