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单词 spontaneous
释义

spontaneousadj.

Brit. /spɒnˈteɪnɪəs/, U.S. /spɑnˈteɪniəs/
Etymology: < Latin spontāneus, < sponte of one's own accord, freely, willingly. So French spontané(e, Italian spontaneo, Spanish espontaneo, Portuguese espontaneo.
1.
a. Of personal actions: Arising or proceeding entirely from natural impulse, without any external stimulus or constraint; voluntary and of one's own accord.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > free will > [adjective] > proceeding from free will
selflyOE
self-willOE
willesOE
needlessc1225
wilninga1250
wilfulc1374
voluntaryc1449
spontany1532
voluntarious1532
spontaneal1602
voluntaire1615
self-willing1625
ultroneous1637
unimposed1642
elective1643
spontaneous1656
contingent1660
unmechanic1709
volitient1844
unmechanical1865
the world > action or operation > doing > [adjective] > relating to or characterized by acts or deeds > without external impulse
self-acting1605
spontaneous1656
1656 T. Hobbes Questions Liberty, Necessity & Chance 60 That all voluntary actions, where the thing that induceth the will is not fear, are called also spontaneous, and said to be done by a mans own accord.
1690 C. Ness Compl. Hist. & Myst. Old & New Test. I. 43 Her eating therefore was a spontaneous act.
1727 D. Defoe Ess. Hist. Apparitions i. 17 By Apparition also I am to understand such Appearances of these superior Beings as are Spontaneous and Voluntary.
1781 J. Moore View Soc. Italy (1790) I. ix. 91 The spontaneous respect paid to the antiquity of their families.
1839 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe II. i. 39 The resemblance of natural disposition made it a spontaneous act of Muretus to fall into the footsteps of Cicero.
1868 M. Pattison Suggestions Acad. Organisation 6 The movement was by no means a spontaneous one on the part of the House.
b. Of persons: Acting voluntarily and from natural prompting.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > free will > [adjective] > exercising or capable of free will
freeeOE
activea1398
indetermined1628
volent1654
undeterminate1668
free-willing1675
autexousious1678
free-willed1678
automatous1732
spontaneous1732
indeterminate1836
1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron I. ii. xxi. 133 It was needless to establish Professors..while there are so many spontaneous Lecturers in every corner of the Streets.
1829 I. Taylor Nat. Hist. Enthusiasm iv. 79 The ranks of a numerous body of men can never be filled up by spontaneous labourers of this sort.
c. Of utterances, etc.: Coming freely and without premeditation or effort.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > intention > unintentional or unplanned character > [adjective] > unplanned
suddena1300
unpremeditate1551
extemporal1570
unpurposed1570
unmeditated1576
extemporate1590
unpremeditated1597
unplotted1598
extemporary1610
extemporanean1621
extempory1623
impremeditate1647
unthought1648
unresolved1649
extemporate1651
incogitate1652
unprojected1653
indeliberate1655
extemporaneous1656
indeliberated1656
autoschediastical1662
casual1667
offhanda1668
undiscourseda1670
extemporany1673
unplanned1775
impromptu1789
on (also upon) the spur of the moment (or occasion, etc.)1801
autoschediastic1809
impromptuary1827
improvised1833
extemporized1856
spontaneous1856
unconsidered1876
undevised1894
lashed-up1920
ad-libbed1933
willy-nilly1933
off the cuff1948
1856 N. Brit. Rev. 26 52 The privileged visitor..would..have heard from him..similar spontaneous expositions of Scripture.
1870 J. H. Burton Hist. Scotl. to 1688 VII. lxxii. 63 A spontaneous thought which he could not help uttering.
1885 Manch. Examiner 9 Sept. 3/1 The fun is never strained or beaten out, but is always fresh, spontaneous, and luxuriant.
2. Of motion: Arising purely from, entirely determined by, the internal operative or directive forces of the organism.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > [adjective] > self-moving
automatic1599
self-moving1600
autokinetical1642
self-movable1642
spontaneous1659
self-motive1671
self-movent1701
autokinetic1841
1659 H. More Immortality of Soul ii. ii. 126 Sense..must like~wise Imagine, Remember, Reason, and be the fountain of spontaneous Motion.
1695 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. III. vii. 334 Things that had Sense and Spontaneous Motion.
1750 G. Hughes Nat. Hist. Barbados iii. 61 Animals are sensitive organic Bodies, endued with spontaneous Motion.
1807 J. E. Smith Introd. Physiol. & Systematical Bot. 2 Vegetables..have in some instances spontaneous, though we know not that they have voluntary, motion.
1844 W. B. Carpenter Animal Physiol. i. 17 These two functions,—sensibility and the power of spontaneous motion,—being peculiar to animals, are called the functions of animal life.
1880 C. E. Bessey Bot. 196 Living protoplasm has everywhere, under proper conditions, the power of spontaneous movement.
1882 S. H. Vines tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. (ed. 2) 871 These movements were termed ‘spontaneous nutations’.
3.
a. Of natural processes: Occurring without apparent external cause; having a self-contained cause or origin. In 19th cent. use esp. of chemical or physical changes: see quots. under (b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > [adjective] > operating independently or spontaneously
unprovoked1585
automatical1586
automatic1599
self-acting1605
self-active1642
self-acted1651
spontaneous1664
authentic1834
semi-automatic1890
shoot-from-the-hip1967
the world > existence and causation > causation > chance or causelessness > [adjective]
byc1050
casualc1374
fortuitc1374
fortunelc1374
fortunousc1374
causelessc1386
adventurousc1405
accidental1502
fortunable1509
happya1522
chanceable1549
occasional1569
accidentary1581
emergent1593
streave1598
contingent1604
happening1621
incidental1644
lucky1648
sporadical1654
temerarious1660
spontaneous1664
incidentarya1670
chance1676
antrin?1725
fortuitous1806
sporadic1821
windfall1845
chanced1853
blind1873
happenchance1905
happenstance1905
(a)
1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. ii. 117 The Spontaneous Dilatation and Elastick Rarefaction of that little remnant of Ayr.
1692 R. Bentley Confut. Atheism from Struct. & Origin Humane Bodies: Pt. II 9 A Spontaneous production of Mankind..may not possibly have been true.
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 163. ⁋3 He expects every moment to be placed in regions of spontaneous fertility.
1765 Museum Rusticum 4 200 I suppose there was no corn on it of spontaneous growth.
1831 W. Scott Castle Dangerous v, in Tales of my Landlord 4th Ser. III. 302 The old man looked with horror at the spontaneous motion of the book.
1859 J. S. Mill On Liberty iv. 139 He suffers these penalties only in so far as they are..the spontaneous consequences of the faults themselves.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. 292 The spontaneous falling of the stones appeared more frequent this morning.
(b)1805 W. Saunders Treat. Mineral Waters (ed. 2) 338 The spontaneous changes which this water undergoes.1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflammation 51 When inflammation occurs..without our being able to trace its production to the action of any obvious cause, it is termed spontaneous inflammation.1836–41 W. T. Brande Man. Chem. (ed. 5) 561 The aqueous solution..is subject to spontaneous decomposition.1861 J. R. Greene Man. Animal Kingdom II. 182 The mode in which spontaneous fission occurs among many other forms of Actinozoa.
b. spec. Of lassitude. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1675 J. Owen Nature Indwelling Sin (1732) ix. 105 A spontaneous Lassitude, or a causeless Weariness and Indisposition of the Body.
1732 J. Arbuthnot Pract. Rules of Diet iv. 378 Its Symptoms are a spontaneous Lassitude or Sensation of Weariness.
4.
a. spontaneous generation n. the development of living organisms without the agency of pre-existing living matter, usually considered as resulting from changes taking place in some inorganic substance. (Cf. equivocal adj. 3)The possibility of such development, once generally accepted as a fact and subsequently rejected, has been a subject of debate in more recent times.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > types of reproduction > [noun] > spontaneous
spontaneous generation1656
equivocal generation1658
heterogeny1863
autogeny1867
abiogenesis1870
autogony1870
archebiosis1872
abiogeny1874
archigony1876
plasmogeny1876
plasmogony1904
biopoesis1953
1656 A. Cowley Pindaric Odes in Wks. (1710) I. Notes 278 The Generation of Serpents, which is Spontaneous sometimes.
1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 141 For the Sea..affords as many Instances of spontaneous generations as either the Air or Earth.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Equivocation This Method of Generation, which we also call spontaneous, was commonly asserted and believed among the antient Philosophers.
1835 J. Duncan Nat. Hist. Beetles (Naturalist's Libr.: Entomol. II) 194 Admitting the doctrine of spontaneous generation, it was necessary [etc.].
1857 A. Henfrey Elem. Course Bot. 543 The idea of a spontaneous generation of organic bodies is now exploded.
1882 S. H. Vines tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. (ed. 2) 944 The first and simplest plants had no ancestors; they arose by spontaneous generation.
figurative.1870 F. M. Müller Sci. Relig. (1873) 377 You see the spontaneous generation of mythology with every new name that is formed.
b. spontaneous combustion n. the fact of taking fire, or burning away, through conditions produced within the substance itself; spec. the alleged occurrence of this fact in persons addicted to the excessive use of alcohol.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > manner of death > [noun] > sudden death > by burning
spontaneous combustion1795
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > [noun] > going or setting on fire > going on fire > spontaneously
needfire1531
spontaneous combustion1795
self-combustion1800
(a)
1809 Jrnl. Nat. Philos. Aug. 278 The spontaneous combustion of a large quantity of charcoal.
1863 H. Watts Dict. Chem. I. 1093 The spontaneous combustion..of masses of tow, cotton, or rags saturated with oil.
1876 G. E. Voyle & G. de Saint-Clair-Stevenson Mil. Dict. (ed. 3) 397/1 New~burnt charcoal, and particularly new ground charcoal, is very liable to spontaneous combustion.
(b)1795 Repertory of Arts 2 424 I shall not pass over in silence the spontaneous combustions of human bodies.1799 Jrnl. Nat. Philos. Oct. 305 (title) The apparently spontaneous combustion of living individuals of the human species.1832 D. Brewster Lett. Nat. Magic xiii. 321 The extraordinary phenomenon of the spontaneous combustion of living bodies.1853 C. Dickens Bleak House Pref. p. ix It was shown upon the evidence that she had died the death to which this name of Spontaneous Combustion is given.1882 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon at Combustion Spontaneous combustion... In most of the cases recorded,..either they have been near a fire, or some suspicious circumstances suggestive of murder have been present.
5.
a. Growing or produced naturally without cultivation or labour.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > wild and cultivated plants > [adjective] > wild or not cultivated
wildc725
untameda1340
unsownc1374
unplanteda1382
savagea1500
natural1526
self-sowed1597
self-sown1608
maiden1616
voluntary1620
spontaneous1665
uncultivated1697
wilding1697
volunteer1794
uncultured1804
agrarian1851
self-raised1852
the world > existence and causation > creation > [adjective] > created or produced > natural or formed by nature > produced without human effort
spontaneous1665
1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 214 Spontaneous Vegetables seeming a food proper enough for spontaneous Animals.
1684 Penn in Academy (1896) 11 Jan. 37/1 I have observed three sorts [of vines]... Thes are spontaneous.
1705 R. Beverley Hist. Virginia ii. iv. 30 Whence they had their Indian Corn, I can give no Account; for I don't believe that it was spontaneous in those Parts.
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey II. ix. 125 Spontaneous wines from weighty clusters pour.
1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World I. 127 Spontaneous flowers take place of the finished parterre.
1805 W. Saunders Treat. Mineral Waters (ed. 2) 333 Except the turf, and some scanty heath, no spontaneous vegetation is to be seen.
1837 H. Martineau Society in Amer. II. 49 We passed ‘a spontaneous rye-field’.
1883 F. Day Indian Fish 8 Fish cured with salt-earth, or spontaneous but untaxed salt.
b. Frequently with fruits, products, productions.
ΚΠ
a1727 I. Newton Chronol. Anc. Kingdoms Amended (1728) i. 183 These several colonies..fed on the spontaneous fruits of the earth.
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 169. ⁋4 There are regions of which the spontaneous products cannot be equalled in other soils by care and culture.
1826 S. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 67/2 If the English were in a paradise of spontaneous productions, they would continue to dig and plough.
1839 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe III. iv. 397 When men lived on the spontaneous fruits of the earth.
1872 J. Morley Voltaire i. 6 The self-raised spontaneous products of some miraculous soil.
c. Produced, developed, coming into existence, by natural processes or changes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > [adjective] > created or produced > natural or formed by nature
wildc1175
naturalc1450
spontaneous1732
unbuilt1882
1732 J. Arbuthnot Pract. Rules of Diet ii. 290 Constitutions abounding with a spontaneous Alkali..ought to avoid alkaline Substances.
1779 Encycl. Brit. IV. 2671/2 Mr. Wilcke..distinguishes it by the name of spontaneous electricity.
1826 D. Booth Art of Brewing (ed. 2) 28 Leaving a portion of matter unattenuated, to produce briskness, and, consequently, spontaneous fineness and flavour.
1846 G. E. Day tr. J. F. Simon Animal Chem. II. 249 The urine which threw down a spontaneous sediment.
1862 G. P. Marsh Lect. Eng. Lang. (new ed.) iii. 59 All the gorgeous spontaneous hues of sun-lit cloud.
6. quasi-adv.= spontaneously adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > [adverb] > operating independently or spontaneously
selfly1605
spontaneously1658
spontaneous1667
automatically1757
the world > plants > wild and cultivated plants > [adverb] > without cultivation
spontaneouslya1682
spontaneous1780
the mind > will > intention > unintentional or unplanned character > [adverb] > in unplanned manner
suddenly1340
of unwarninga1400
on, upon, rarely of, in (a) suddenty1469
casuallya1549
extemporea1556
of (upon) this sudden1572
extemporally1577
at (the or a) volley1578
on (or o') the volley1578
extrumpery1582
unpremeditately1607
extemporary1610
extempory1623
extemporarily1667
impromptu1669
ad aperturam libri1679
unpremeditatedly1694
impulsively1768
extemporaneously1791
promiscuously1791
spontaneously1799
on (also upon) the spur of the moment (or occasion, etc.)1801
spontaneous1810
promiscuous1826
improvisedly1851
off-handedly1876
at the first jet1878
off the cuff1927
off the top of one's head1939
off the wall1966
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 204 Chariots wing'd..now came forth Spontaneous . View more context for this quotation
1720 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad V. xvii. 248 The stubborn Arms..Conform'd spontaneous, and around him clos'd.
1780 W. Cowper Progress of Error 364 But we, as if good qualities would grow Spontaneous, take but little pains to sow.
1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake i. 39 Till to her lips in measured frame The minstrel verse spontaneous came.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.1656
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