| 释义 |
apples and oranges
apples and orangesTwo unlike things or people. Oh, you can't compare those two companies, they're apples and oranges! My mom and my mother-in-law are just apples and oranges and should not be left alone in the same room for too long.See also: and, apple, orangeapples and orangesFig. two entities that are not similar. (Used especially in reference to comparisons of unlike things.) You can't talk about Fred and Ted in the same breath! They're like apples and oranges. Talking about her current book and her previous bestseller is like comparing apples and oranges.See also: and, apple, orangeapples and orangesUnlike objects or persons, as in Assessing the problems of the neighborhood grocery by examining a giant supermarket is comparing apples and oranges . This metaphor for dissimilarity began as apples and oysters, which appeared in John Ray's proverb collection of 1670. It is nearly always accompanied by a warning that one cannot compare such different categories. See also: and, apple, orangeapples and oranges If you say that two things are apples and oranges, you mean that they are completely different and cannot be compared. We really can't compare the data any more, it's not the same — it's just apples and oranges. Note: You can also say that comparing two things is like comparing apples with oranges. To compare one with the other is to make the mistake we were all warned about in third grade, not to compare apples with oranges.See also: and, apple, orangeapples and oranges (of two people or things) irreconcilably or fundamentally different. North AmericanSee also: and, apple, orangeˌapples and ˈoranges (American English) used to describe a situation in which two people or things are completely different from each other: He was no competition for me: it was like apples and oranges.See also: and, apple, orange |