喜樂美語
  1. 1rB2/ˈɡrædʒuəli/逐漸／漸漸

    Slowly, in small steps, over a long time — not all at once.

    示範例句 · Example

    The sky gradually got darker as the sun went down.

    逐字隨著太陽下山，天空逐漸變暗。

    「gradually」描述一件事「一點一點地、慢慢地」發生，而不是一下子突然改變。可以想成：像天色慢慢變亮，你很難指出哪一秒變的，但過一陣子就明顯不同了。它跟 suddenly（突然）正好相反，常搭配 change、get better、become 這類「在變化」的動詞。

    常見搭配

    • gradually become / get

      逐漸變成

      to change slowly into a new state

      The weather gradually became warmer.

    • gradually change

      慢慢改變

      to change little by little

      The town has gradually changed over the years.

    • gradually improve / get better

      逐漸進步／好轉

      to slowly get better

      Her health gradually improved after the operation.

    意思相近

    slowlysteadilylittle by littlebit by bitprogressively

    意思相反

    suddenlyabruptlyall at onceinstantly

core核心畫面

Picture climbing a staircase one step at a time — each step is small, almost , but the steps pile up until you are somewhere quite different. 'Gradually' is change that arrives step by step, over a long time, never in one jump.

可以想成一階一階慢慢走樓梯:每一步都很小,你幾乎感覺不到,但一步步累積下來,最後你已經到了完全不同的地方。gradually 描述的就是這種一小步一小步、拉長時間慢慢到位、絕不是一次跳過去的變化。

From the word’s history

From Latin 'gradus' = a step (the same root behind 'grade' and 'gradient'). 'Gradual' literally means 'by steps', which is exactly the picture: change moving forward one small step at a time.

來自拉丁文 gradus,意思是『一階、一步』(grade 分級、gradient 坡度也都是同一個字根)。gradual 字面上就是『按步驟、一階一階地』——正好對上核心畫面:變化一小步一小步往前推。

etymonline.com/word/gradually; Wiktionary 'gradual' (< Medieval Latin gradualis < Latin gradus 'step')

同家族的字

意思相近

slowlysteadilylittle by littlebit by bitprogressively

意思相反

suddenlyabruptlyall at onceinstantly

原始詞典資料2 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。

graduallyadv/ˈɡɹæd͡ʒuəli/

  • 1

    In a gradual manner; making slow progress; slowly.

    • The most likely conclusion, the researchers say, is that the Levallois method was not taken to Eurasia by African migrants, but evolved there gradually and independently.
    • The instrument of this dumbing down in Nineteen Eighty-Four was Newspeak, the official language of the English Socialist Party (Ingsoc). Newspeak was a sort of Totalitarian Esperanto that sought gradually to diminish the range of what was thinkable by eliminating, contracting and manufacturing words.
  • 2

    obsoleteby degrees

    • Horns, upon the due accession of Moisture, doth gradually become Soft.

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。