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单词 moribund
释义
moribund
(once / 7944 pages)
adj

Something that is moribund is almost dead, like a moribund economy that has been stuck in a recession for years.
In Latin, mori means "to die." You probably recognize this root in words like mortal, mortician, and mortuary. Moribund means "near death," but it can also mean something that is coming to an end, nearly obsolete, or stagnant. For example, as streaming videos over the Internet becomes a more and more popular way to watch movies and television shows, the DVD has become a moribund medium.
CHOOSE YOUR WORDS
morbid / moribund

Morbid describes something gruesome, like smallpox or Frankenstein's monster. Moribund refers to the act of dying. Goths love both. What fun!

Morbid and moribund are both dark and popular around Halloween, but if you dig up their graves, you'll find their Latin bones are different: Morbid comes from morbus, for disease, while moribund comes from morī, for dying.

Morbid is a busy adjective, going from dark to darker describing terrible things such as anything related to disease -obesity, insanity, the plague - or unwholesome thoughts. Morbid pops up all over the place, such as in

The Morbid Imagination, a Website about Gothic Horror and the Arts.

Or in this quote from a book about country life:

And the slender, undersized, morbid girl needed just such tonic. (Lillian Elizabeth Roy)

You can be morbidly obese or morbidly thin, as long as you're sick in some way, even in the head, you're morbid. Appropriately, Morbid is the name of a Swedish death metal band.

On the other hand, moribund means dying, literally or figuratively. It can refer to a person about to leave this world behind or to something that's almost obsolete. In both senses, moribund does not mean death but dying. It refers to the action, not the outcome, like in this example from an old medical book:

This heart was taken from a man who came into the hospital in a moribund condition.

The word also shows up in the news, all too often describing an economy:

But the domestic economy remains moribund, while the fragile export recovery could be sabotaged by slowing in the global economy. (New York Times)

The hermit crab that hasn't had water in three days is a moribund pet. The kid with the black lipstick who wants it to die is morbid

WORD FAMILY
moribund
USAGE EXAMPLES
Rather than buttressing a moribund status quo, the left needs to place itself on the side of change.
The Guardian(Jan 01, 2017)
The report abounds with vivid details of the moribund state of the judicial death business.
The Guardian(Dec 21, 2016)
That, his government hopes, will boost the moribund private sector, reduce unemployment and provide youth with more alternatives to extremism.
Wall Street Journal(Dec 18, 2016)
1adj being on the point of death; breathing your last
a moribund patient
Syn
dying
in or associated with the process of passing from life or ceasing to be
2adj not growing or changing; without force or vitality
Syn
stagnant
adynamic, undynamic
characterized by an absence of force or forcefulness
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更新时间:2025/3/22 14:11:32