【英语学习】【WOTD】magniloquent 释义/词源/示例

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magniloquent podcast

magniloquent adj. [mag-NIL-uh-kwunt]

言语夸张的

Definition

: speaking in or characterized by a high-flown often bombastic style or manner
：说话方式或风格极其夸张的
注：high-flown：崇高的，夸张的；bombastic：夸大的

Did You Know?

Magus means “great” in Latin; loqui is a Latin verb meaning “to speak.” Combine the two and you get magniloquus the Latin predecessor of magniloquent. English-speakers started using magniloquent in the 1600s — even though we have had its synonym grandiloquent since 1500s. (Grandiloquent comes from Latin grandiloquus, which combines loqui and grandis, another word for “great” in Latin.) Today, these synonyms continue to exist side by side and to be used interchangeably, though grandiloquent is the more common of the two.

词源词根演化：
magus (“great”) + loqui (“to speak”) —> magniloquus (n.) —> magniloquent (adj.)
grandis (“great”) + loqui (“to speak”) —> grandiloquus (n.) —> grandiloquent (adj.)

magus的意思是“伟大的”；loqui的意思是“讲话”。两者组合在一起，就得到了magniloquus，是magniloquent的拉丁前身。英语世界自1600年代开始使用magniloquent — 尽管自1500年代就已经有了一个同义词grandiloquent。（grandiloquent来自于拉丁grandiloquus，是由loqui与grandis组合而成，grandis也表示“伟大”）。如今，这两个同义词在英语世界中并存，可以互相替换使用，只是grandiloquent相对用的更多。

Examples

• The magniloquent sportscaster sometimes got so carried away with his monologues that he would forget to describe the action on the field.
  这个解说夸张的体育评论员有时候太专注于自己的独白，以至于忘记了讲解赛场上发生的事情。

• “It [the television series Billions] features two outsize, magniloquent protagonists who are constant foils to one another: light and dark, good and evil, both cut from the same ambitious cloth and therefore destined to lock in an endless pas de deux of power.”
  — Rachel Syme, The New Republic, 1 May 2018

  这个剧（指电视连续剧Billions）有个极重的特点，表演夸张的主角持续地在对立双方之间摇摆：光明与黑暗，正义与邪恶，都来自于同一个野心勃勃的目的，因为命中注定被枷锁在这两股力量之间。

  注：outsize：adj. 特大的，极重的；foil to：？(不知何意)；pas de deux：双人舞，在两个事物之间复杂微妙的关系。

Bonus

in stitches

: laughing very hard【口】大笑

• His jokes had us all in stitches.
• an audience in stitches