1. 1貶低;屈辱自己、自貶身分(書面、偏文)。

    To abase someone is to lower them in dignity, in rank, or in their own eyes. To abase yourself is to act as if the other person has complete power and you have none: you swallow your pride and accept being treated as small.

    To abase someone貶低某人 is to lower them就是把他們降低 in dignity在尊嚴上, in rank在地位上, or in their own eyes或在他們自己眼中。 To abase yourself貶低自己 is to act as if the other person has complete power就是表現得好像對方擁有全部的權力 and you have none而你什麼都沒有: you swallow your pride你嚥下自己的自尊 and accept being treated as small接受被當成渺小的人對待。

    The word is formal and a little old; you will find it in books, sermons, and careful essays more than in everyday chat. It is stronger than being polite to a boss. It carries humiliation: the lowering is meant to be felt.

    The word is formal and a little old這個字正式又有點老派; you will find it你會 in books書裡, sermons講道裡, and careful essays以及講究的文章裡 more than in everyday chat常見到它,而不是在日常聊天裡。 It is stronger它的力道更重 than being polite to a boss比對老闆客氣還重。 It carries humiliation它帶著羞辱的意味: the lowering is meant to be felt這種貶低是要讓人感覺得到的。

    People also use it of a person made to feel worthless by cruelty or by guilt. It does not mean leave (that is abandon) and it does not mean make someone feel shy (that is abash, a neighbour that students mix up).

    People also use it人們也會用它 of a person made to feel worthless形容一個被弄得覺得自己一文不值的人 by cruelty是因為殘忍 or by guilt或因為愧疚。 It does not mean leave它不是指離開 (that is abandon那是abandon的意思) and it does not mean make someone feel shy也不是指讓人覺得害羞 (that is abash那是abash的意思, a neighbour that students mix up這是學生常搞混的一個相近字)。

core核心畫面

組成From Late Middle English, from Old French abaissier, to lower: a- (towards) + baissier (to lower), from a Latin word meaning low or short of stature. English kept the bring-down meaning, especially of pride and rank.

同家族的字

  • abasementthe noun: the act or state of being abased
  • debaseto lower the value or quality of something, built on the same low/base idea

原始詞典資料3 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,摘錄並精簡格式,我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的;有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

abaseverb/əˈbeɪs/

  • 1

    To lower, as in condition in life, office, rank, etc., so as to cause pain or hurt feelings; to degrade, to depress, to humble, to humiliate.

    • For whoſoeuer exalteth himſelfe ſhalbe abaſed: and hee that humbleth himſelfe, ſhalbe exalted.
    • Our adverſaries object againe, that by praying that Chriſts merits may be made ours in particular, we greatly abaſe them. As though the Prophet David did abaſe God in making him his in particular, ſaying, the Lord is my rock, my fortreſſe, my God, and my ſtrength, my ſhield, the horne of my ſalvation, and my refuge: […]
  • 2

    archaicTo lower physically; to depress; to cast or throw down; to stoop.

    • to abase the eye
    • Her gracious words their rancour did appall, / And ſuncke ſo deepe into their boyling breſts, / That downe they lett their cruel weapons fall, / And lowly did abaſe their lofty creſts, / To her faire preſence, and diſcrete beheſts.
  • 3

    obsoleteTo lower in value, in particular by altering the content of alloys in coins; to debase.

    • Though in the nature thereof, that with which a purer metal is mixed, be not base; yet, it abases the purer metal. […] [T]hough silver be a precious metal, yet it abases gold. Grace, and peace, and faith, are precious parts of our treasure here; yet, if we mingle them, that is, compare them with the joys, and glory of heaven; […] we abase, and over-alloy these joys, and that glory.
    • [H]er majesty [Elizabeth I of England] let them all to understand, that she never intended (God's grace assisting her) to leese the fruit of so famous an act, by abasing the coin of the realm, which she found to be for the more part copper, and had now recovered it to be as fine, or rather finer, sterling silver, than ever it was in the realm by the space of two hundred years or more; a matter worth marking and memory.

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary,已精簡格式;依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用,改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。