| 释义 |
congenial, a.|kənˈdʒiːnɪəl|
[mod. f. L. con- together + geniāl-is, f. genius: see genial, genius. Cf. F. congénial: prob. a. mod.L. congeniālis preceded both.]
1. Of persons and their attributes: Partaking of the same genius, disposition, or temperament; kindred, sympathetic. Const. with (sometimes to).
c1625Wotton (J.), A kind of congenial composure, as we may term it, to the likeness of our late sovereign and master. 1647J. Berkenhead On Fletcher's Wks., Fletcher's keen trebble, and deep Beaumont's base, Two, full, congenial souls. 1700Dryden Fables Pref. (Globe) 503, I found I had a soul congenial to his [Chaucer's]. 1791Boswell Johnson an. 1753 His religious and political notions [were] so congenial with those in which Langton had been educated. 1797Godwin Enquirer i. xv. 137 With a soul congenial to the noblest. 1830D'Israeli Chas. I, III. vi. 98 This great Painter [Rubens] found..in Charles..a congenial spirit. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. vi. 456 A prince whose tastes were in many respects congenial with his own.
b. Of things.
1692Dryden Ess. on Satire You look with pleasure on those things which are somewhat congenial, and of a remote kindred to your own conceptions. 1774Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry xxi. III. 59 Poetry and music are congenial. 1823D'Israeli Cur. Lit. (1859) II. 399 The congenial histories of literature and of art are accompanied by the same periodical revolutions.
2. Suited or agreeable to one's temperament or disposition; to one's taste or liking. Const. to.
1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 254 To me more dear, congenial to my heart. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xlvii. II. 764 The controversies of the times were congenial to his temper and understanding. 1835Thirlwall Greece I. viii. 334 The sea was an element never congenial to the spirit of Spartan warfare. 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 339 The congenial task of following up his rival Syphax.
b. transf. Suited to the nature of anything.
[1711Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) III. 403 Nothing is..so natural, so con-genial to the liberal Arts, as that reigning Liberty and high Spirit of a People.] 1738Med. Ess. & Observ. (ed. 2) IV. 397 These Things..relaxing the Solids by their kindly Heat (which some, fond of Words, would call congenial). 1813Gent. Mag. LXXXIII. ii. 296 When transplanted to the classic and congenial soil of Italy. 1830Lyell Princ. Geol. (1875) III. iii. xxxv. 280 The food most congenial to this species..is abundantly distributed.
†3. Belonging to any being from birth, or by nature; innate, natural, congenital. Obs.
1664H. Power Exp. Philos. iii. 158 The Magnetical Effluviums are not Innate and Congenial to the Stone, but proceed ab extrinseco. 1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. i. §17 Those more natural and congenial [Ideas] which it [the Soul] had in itself, underived from the body. a1711Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 102 Bless'd are all they, who..purge themselves from their congenial stain. 1775Pott Chirurg. Wks. II. 309 The congenial hernia. ― Wks. (1783) II. 23 To distinguish the common rupture from the congenial in infants.
†b. Connected with one's birth, natal, ‘native’.
1697Dryden Virgil, Life (1721) I. 65 Virgil suppos'd Souls to ascend again to their proper and congeneal Stars. Ibid. Georg. iv. 332 They mount the Sky, And to their own congenial Planets fly. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 213 In animals, the climate may be considered as congenial, and a kind of second nature.
†4. Of the same kind or genus; congenerous.
1669W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 87 These Diseases being congenial in their causes, are the same in their Cures. 1751Harris Hermes (1841) 172 In natural species, which are congenial and of kin. 1780― Philol. Inq. (1841) 40 All languages are in some degree congenial, and..founded upon the same principles. 1804W. Mitford Ess. Harmony Lang. 357 The Hebrew..and the congenial dialects of Chaldea, Syria, and Arabia. |