| 释义 |
pejoration|piːdʒəˈreɪʃən|
[ad. med.L. pējōrātiōn-em, n. of action from pējōrāre: see prec.]
a. A making or becoming worse, a worsening, deterioration; depreciation (of property).
1658Phillips, Pejoration, a making worse. 1659Gauden Tears of Ch. i. xiv. 131 Which pejorations, as to the piety, peace and honour of this Nation, no man..can behold, without sad and serious deploring. a1734North Lives (1890) III. 59 Everyone chose rather to pay for amelioration than receive for pejoration. 1831Brougham in Wilson & Shaw Lords' Repts. V. 295 What ameliorations and what pejorations are to be taken into the account?
b. Linguistics. The development of a less favourable meaning or of unpleasant connotations of a word.
1889in Cent. Dict. 1939L. H. Gray Foundations of Lang. ix. 259 Their [sc. words'] degeneration (technically termed pejoration;..) is often due to a selection and specialisation of some ethically lower connotation which may be implied in them. 1956Archivum Linguisticum VIII. 74 And is not pejoration a general feature of semantic development? 1966Word Study Dec. 7/1 Perhaps Walt Disney would be interested in the pejoration and ‘spread’ of the name for his major cartoon character to a word now so loosely defined that it might some day take three dictionary columns to list. 1975Amer. Speech 1972 XLVII. 295 In the case of two English words, borrowing [in German] has resulted in pejoration. |