| 单词 | quaint |
| 释义 | quaint (once / 407 pages) adj Quaint means strange and unusual in an old-fashioned and charming way. It's a word you'd use to describe a little store that sells tea cozies and antique tea services, or your grandmother's habit of calling the radio the "wireless." There is a commonly used sarcastic sense of quaint––when something is run down or shabby and you're trying to say something positive, you might substitute "How...quaint" for "How...interesting." In Middle English, this adjective meant clever or cunning. Its origin is Old French queinte, cointe, from Latin cognitus "known," from cognōscere "to learn." WORD FAMILYquaint: quainter, quaintest, quaintly, quaintness+/quaintness: quaintnesses USAGE EXAMPLESBut as he surveyed the spectacular scenery, with Slieve League mountain in the background and the quaint little harbour, Byrne also struck a cautious note. The Guardian(Jan 01, 2017) With its mix of live action and animation, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” was a genuine breakthrough that looks quaint in retrospect. Seattle Times(Dec 14, 2016) We lived in a huge, 10-bedroom chalet in Switzerland which had once been a quaint bed and breakfast. The Guardian(Nov 27, 2016) 1adj attractively old-fashioned (but not necessarily authentic) houses with quaint thatched roofs Syn old-time, olde worlde fashionable, stylish being or in accordance with current social fashions 2adj strange in an interesting or pleasing way quaint dialect words quaint streets of New Orleans, that most foreign of American cities Syn strange, unusual being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird 3adj very strange or unusual; odd or even incongruous in character or appearance "the head terminating in the quaint duck bill which gives the animal its vernacular name"- Bill Beatty "came forth a quaint and fearful sight"- Sir Walter Scott a quaint sense of humor Syn strange, unusual being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird |
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