| 释义 |
sardonic, a.|sɑːˈdɒnɪk|
Also 7 sardonick, sardanique.
[a. F. sardonique (16th c.) = Sp. sardónico, Pg., It. sardonico, as if ad. L. *sardonicus, an alteration (by substitution of suffix: see -ic) of sardonius: see sardonian.
Hobbes's form sardanique is assimilated to Gr. σαρδάνιος: see prec.]
a. Of laughter, a smile: Bitter, scornful, mocking. Hence of a person, personal attribute, etc.: Characterized by or exhibiting bitterness, scorn or mockery.
1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 190 He..gives a Sardonick smile to think how blest hee was in this attonement. 1675Hobbes Odyssey xx. 276 Then smil'd Ulysses a Sardanique smile. 1713Steele Guard. No. 29 ⁋10 The Horse-Laugh, or the Sardonic, is made use of with great Success in all kinds of Disputation. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xx, Our cousin received the proposal with a true sardonic grin. 1826Scott Woodst. iv, The knight meanwhile darted a sardonic look..on his nephew. 1830Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 140 His countenance, strangely twisted into Sardonic wrinkles. 1833I. Taylor Fanat. v. 119 The sardonic historian, whose rule it is to exhibit human nature always as an object of mockery. 1866Howells Venet. Life v. 68 The favourite drama of the Burattini appears to be a sardonic farce, in which the chief character..deludes other..puppets into trusting him, and then beats them. 1872Darwin Emotions x. 251 We see a trace of this same expression [the sneer] in what is called a derisive or sardonic smile. 1878Bayne Purit. Rev. ii. 27 He would have found exercise for dramatic sympathy and sardonic humour.
b. Path. (See quot. 1897.)
1822–29Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) IV. 374 The nostrils are drawn upward, and the cheeks backward toward the ears; so that the whole countenance assumes the air of a cynic spasm or sardonic grin. 1897Syd. Soc. Lex., Risus sardonicus, sardonic grin. The involuntary, convulsive drawing down of the angles of the month in Tetanus. Ibid., Sardonic laugh. See Risus sardonicus.
c. Comb., as sardonic-looking adj.
1921D. H. Lawrence Tortoises 29 She is..A little sardonic-looking, as if domesticity had driven her to it.
Hence sarˈdonicism, the quality or state of being sardonic; an instance of this; a sardonic remark.
1928Daily Express 6 Jan. 8/3 The old Spartan régime has gone, but there is a relentlessness about the public school system that engenders secret terrors at every turn. It may be the fear of ridicule, or the sardonicisms of a satiric master, or one of a dozen things. 1930W. de la Mare On Edge 197 A corrosive sardonicism had come into her voice. 1940W. Faulkner Hamlet ii. i. 100 He would speculate now and then with cold sardonicism. 1964Listener 29 Oct. 667/2 Because familiarity with the role has made Sean Connery feel able to play Bond more relaxedly, an agreeable sardonicism has been added to the earlier deliberately overdone Superman masculinity. |