| 释义 |
preg·nant
I. \ˈpregnənt\ adjective
Etymology: Middle English preignant, from Middle French, from present participle of preindre to press, from Old French priembre, from Latin premere — more at press
archaic : cogent, convincing, forcible, pressing
< a pregnant example >
II. adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin praegnant-, praegnans, alteration (influenced by -ant-, -ans -ant) of earlier praegnat-, praegnas, from prae- pre- + gnat- (from root of nasci to be born) — more at nation
1.
a. : containing unborn young within the body : preparing to bring forth : gravid, gestating
b. : of or relating to pregnancy
< pregnant urine >
c. : being about to produce or realize : containing as implicit : capable of producing
< the ideals with which the modern world is pregnant — Walter Lippmann >
2.
a. : abounding in fancy, wit, or resource of mind : fertile, germinal, inventive
< all this has been said … by great and pregnant artists — Times Literary Supplement >
b. obsolete : full of promise : quick of apprehension
3. : rich in significance or implication : heavy with suggestion or import : having possibilities of development or consequence : meaningful, weighty
< the journal brimmed over with his thoughts, many of them thin, diffuse, abstract, others nutty and pregnant — Van Wyck Brooks >
4. : containing the germ or shape of future events : bearing latent potentialities, results, or issues
< the 1930s were pregnant years — Gordon Bell >
5. obsolete : open, ready, receptive
< my matter hath no voice, lady, but to your own most pregnant and vouchsafed ear — Shakespeare >
6. : exhibiting fertility : teeming
< all nature seemed pregnant with life — L.F.Herreshoff >
Synonyms: see expressive |