| 释义 |
nonentity|nɒˈnɛntɪtɪ|
[non- 1.]
1. The quality or condition of not being or existing; non-being, non-existence.
1643Digby Observ. Relig. Med. (1644) 34 Who understandeth the nature of contradiction, will find Non Entity in one of the termes. a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. v. 135 These black opinions of death and the non-entity of souls. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) I. 79 He wished to deprive them of their very existence, and laboured to persuade himself..of their non-entity. 1824Byron Juan xvi. cxx, How odd, a single hobgoblin's non-entity, Should cause more fear than a whole host's identity. 1837Lang New South W. II. 30 It becomes a matter of importance to prove either the death or the nonentity of the English husband. 1899M. H. Dziewicki Wyclif's De Logica iii. p. xxv, The non-entity of the world did not precede its entity.
2. Something which does not exist; a non-existent thing; hence, a thing existing in the imagination only; a figment, a nothing.
c1600Edmonds Observ. Cæsar's Comm. 38 Our commanders, to whom particular fortunes are esteemed non⁓entities, and men in seueral of no valew. 1642Sir E. Dering Sp. on Relig. xvi. 81 It is a fancy, a dream, a meer non entity. 1653Whitfield Treat. Sinf. Men iii. 7 Sin being a defect or privation, and so a kinde of none entity. 1726De Foe Hist. Devil ii. ix. 347 Satan was not such a Fool as not to know that Baal was a Non Entity, a Nothing. 1838Sir W. Hamilton Logic v. (1866) I. 77 What..has no qualities, has no existence in thought,—it is a logical nonentity. 1849C. Brontë Shirley xiii, We are aware that mermaids do not exist: why speak of them as if they did? How can you find interest in speaking of a nonentity?
b. What does not exist.
1655–87H. More App. Antid. vii. §1 (1712) 199 Non⁓entity can have no affection or property. 1690Locke Hum. Und. iv. x. (1695) 354 No more than I would argue with pure nothing, or endeavour to convince Non-entity, that it were something. 1892J. Tait Mind in Matter (ed. 3) 17 Total unfamiliarity with entity coming out of non-entity, by mental process.
3. A person or thing of no significance, consequence, or importance.
1710Steele Tatler No. 118 ⁋6 The Esquire of a neighbouring village, who had been a long time in the number of non-entities, is entirely recovered by them. 1751Smollett Per. Pic. lxxxviii. III. 104 The insignificance of lord ―, who, tho' a nominal husband, was, in fact, a mere non entity. 1827Lytton Pelham iii, He was an atom, a nonentity, a very worm, and no man. 1883Chalmers & Hough Bankruptcy Act p. ix, An Act was passed which very much limited their duties, and practically reduced them to nonentities.
Hence non-ˈentitative, non-ˈentitive, non-ˈentit(i)ous adjs., that is a nonentity; non-existent. Also non-ˈentityism.
1831Manning Let. in Purcell Life (1895) I. vi. 76 My present routine of non⁓entitous existence. 1846Mrs. Gore Eng. Char. (1852) 5 Byron..characterized our century as ‘the Age of Bronze’. The truth..would be far greater, were it defined as ‘the age of non-entityism!’ 1872J. Walker Theol. Scot. iii. 86 Dr. Chalmers has accepted the nonentitive conception of sin. 1889Microcosm Sept. 146 A shadow, the non-entitative effect of light, has no existence before the light-force is applied. 1951W. Sansom Face of Innocence (1954) 77 The girls nubile and the men nonentitous. 1954C. E. M. Joad Folly Farm vi. 143 Henry, the husband, a decent civil servant, utterly non-entitious—another character without a face..without a body of any kind. 1968Listener 15 Aug. 212/3 Much of the rebuilding is elephantine and nonentitious. |