| 释义 |
ma·ca·bre
adjective
also ma·ca·ber \məˈkäb(rə), -kȧb(-, chiefly before a pause -brə, chiefly before a vowel following without pause -br (br beginning the syllable to which the following vowel belongs); sometimes- bə(r)\
Etymology: French, from (danse) macabre dance of death, from Middle French (danse) macabré, (danse de) Macabré, from Macchabées Maccabees, 2d-1st century B.C. Jewish patriots; probably from their being associated with death because of a passage in 2 Macc (12:43-46) that is important in the development of the concepts of purgatory and prayers for the dead
1. : concerned with death or having death as a subject : comprising or including a personalized representation of death
< German baroque poems containing macabre blazons, describing … the parts of the dead body — Leo Spitzer >
— compare danse macabre
2. : concerned with or dwelling unduly on the grim, grisly, or gruesome : designed to produce an effect of horror
< a macabre presentation of a tragic story >
— often used absolutely
< a writer specializing in the macabre >
3. : tending to produce horror in a beholder : horrible, distressing, unpleasant
< this macabre procession of starving peasants >
< government couldn't resist the macabre impulse to set down a huge, modern atomic establishment … in such an old-time, idyllic spot — Conrad Richter >
• ma·ca·bre·ly \-b(rə)lē sometimes -bə(r)lē\ adverb |