用法学习: 1. frigate [ˈfrɪɡət] 巡防舰 a small fast ship used by a navy to protect other ships. A frigate is a fairly small ship owned by the navy that can move at fast speeds. Frigates are often used to protect other ships. scuttle [ˈskʌt(ə)l] I. transitive to make a plan, agreement, attempt, etc. fail or stop. To scuttle a plan or a proposal means to make it fail or cause it to stop. Such threats could scuttle the peace conference. II. 凿沉. 击沉. transitive to sink a ship deliberately, for example by making holes in the bottom. To scuttle a ship means to sink it deliberately by making holes in the bottom. He personally had received orders from the commander to scuttle the ship. New stern view of Ukraine 'Hetman Sagaidachny' frigate, reportedly scuttled in Mykolaiv. III. intransitive 小碎步跑 to run somewhere with short quick steps. When people or small animals scuttle somewhere, they run there with short quick steps. Two very small children scuttled away in front of them. Crabs scuttle along the muddy bank. a sorry/sad state (of affairs) 状况不佳, 不堪的, 不幸的, 可悲的 An unhappy condition, unfortunate circumstances. A particularly unfortunate, unpleasant, or upsetting situation or set of circumstances. Their company has been in a sorry state ever since Jonathan took over. It's a sorry state of affairs when you can no longer be sure how you'll feed your children each night. My business was in a sorry state after I left it under the control of my brother. John's been in a sorry state lately—I think he's taken up drinking again. The sorry state of the Russian economy makes it imperative to create conditions for foreign investment. President Putin has spoken of the need to turn around Russia's international image as a sinkhole for investment, and indeed, there do appear to be some positive signs. 2. efficacious [ˌefɪˈkeɪʃəs] 卓有成效, 富有成果的, 得到想要的结果的, 有效的 producing the effect that you intended. Something that is efficacious is effective. (of something inanimate or abstract) successful in producing a desired or intended result; effective. "this treatment was efficacious in some cases". The nasal spray was new on the market and highly efficacious. obscene [ɑbˈsin]
I. If you describe something as obscene 淫秽的, 暴力的, you mean it offends
you because it relates to sex or violence in a way that you think is
unpleasant and shocking. (of the portrayal or description of sexual
matters) offensive or disgusting by accepted standards of morality and
decency. "obscene jokes". I'm not prudish but I think these photographs are obscene. He continued to use obscene language and also to make threats.
II. In legal contexts, books, pictures, or films which are judged
obscene are illegal because they deal with sex or violence in a way that
is considered offensive to the general public. A
city magistrate ruled that the novel was obscene and copies should be
destroyed. The bill leaves it up to the courts to decide what is
obscene. ...the Obscene Publications Act. III. [disapproval] If you describe something as obscene,
you disapprove of it very strongly and consider it to be offensive or
immoral. offending against moral principles; repugnant. "using animals' skins for fur coats is obscene". It was obscene 太夸张了, 太不道德了, 太过分了 to spend millions producing unwanted food. His salary was obscene for three 40-minute shows a week. repugnant [rɪˈpʌɡnənt] 恶心的 adj. extremely unpleasant or offensive. If you think that something is horrible and disgusting, you can say that it is repugnant. The odour is repugnant to insects. The Committee said his actions were improper and repugnant. She felt a deep sense of shame and repugnance. In the interview he said he voted Remain in the 2016 referendum, supported Corbyn as Prime Minister and called Trump "repugnant" and "repulsive". pungent ['pʌndʒənt] I. Something that is pungent has a strong, sharp smell or taste which is often so strong that it is unpleasant. The more herbs you use, the more pungent the sauce will be. ...the pungent smell of burning rubber. ...the spices that give Jamaican food its pungency. II. [formal, approval] pungent comments or remarks criticize something in a direct and effective way. If you describe what someone has said or written as pungent, you approve of it because it has a direct and powerful effect and often criticizes something very cleverly. He enjoyed the play's shrewd and pungent social analysis. 3. TBBT: Howard: Oh, God, this is good. Raj: Let me ask you a question. Do you believe you're going to go to hell for eating sweet and sour pork? Howard: Jews don't have hell. We have acid reflux. Leonard: Do you want the last dumpling, Sheldon? Sheldon: Certainly. It's not like I have to moderate my food intake 调控食物摄入 ( moderate adj [ˈmɑd(ə)rət] verb [ˈmɑdəˌr(e)ɪt] adj. I. Moderate political opinions or policies are not extreme. reasonable and avoiding extreme opinions or actions. She was on the moderate wing of the party. The tone of his speech was quite moderate. He was an easygoing man of very moderate views. Both countries have called for a moderate approach to the use of force. II. 适度的. 不激进的. You use moderate to describe people or groups who have moderate political opinions or policies. someone whose opinions and actions are reasonable and not extreme, especially in politics. The party is deeply divided between moderates and extremists. ...a moderate Democrat. ...the moderate wing of the army. A moderate is someone with moderate political opinions. If he presents himself as a radical, he risks scaring off the moderates. III. 中等的. You use moderate to describe something that is neither large nor small in amount or degree. neither very great nor very small in amount, size, strength, or degree. Cook the spinach over a moderate heat. moderate increase/loss/growth: This month has seen a moderate increase in house prices. While a moderate amount of stress can be beneficial, too much stress can exhaust you. ...moderate exercise. I don't smoke and I drink only moderately. doing, eating, or drinking only sensible amounts of something. a moderate drinker (=of alcohol). IV. A moderate change in something is a change that is not great. Most drugs offer either no real improvement or, at best, only moderate improvements. Share prices on the Tokyo Exchange declined moderately. verb I. If you moderate something or if it moderates, it becomes less extreme or violent and easier to deal with or accept. They are hoping that once in office he can be persuaded to moderate his views. Amongst relief workers, the immediate sense of crisis has moderated somewhat. Without Westcott's moderating influence, Mathers's autocratic manner became unbearable. II. intransitive/transitive to make something less extreme, or to become less extreme When Melanie came in, they moderated their language. The pace of economic expansion has moderated. III. 主持, 协调, 调控. transitive to be in charge of a discussion between people with different opinions, especially in order to make it fair to everyone involved. IV. intransitive/transitive education British to check that the marks given in an examination are fair and correct. A moderation in food prices helped to offset the first increase in energy prices.) because I'm planning on eating again very shortly. Mm, mm, mm! Leonard: So, you guys want to do something tonight? Howard: Nah, I can't. I got to pick up my mom from her water aerobics class. 18 overweight women flapping their arm fat in a swimming pool. Looks like the manatee tank at Sea World. 4. prerogative [prɪˈrɒɡətɪv] noun. 特权. a right or privilege exclusive to a particular individual or class. a right that a particular person or group has It's the manager's prerogative to decide who will play on the day. "in some countries, higher education is predominantly the prerogative of the rich". adj. arising from the prerogative of the Crown (usually delegated to the government or the judiciary) and based in common law rather than statutory law. "the monarch retained the formal prerogative power to appoint the Prime Minister". If something is the prerogative of a particular person or group, it is a privilege or a power that only they have. Constitutional changes are exclusively the prerogative of the parliament. It is your prerogative to stop seeing that particular therapist and find another one. royal prerogative the special rights of a king or queen. reap the rewards/benefit to get all the good things that come with something. to get something good as a result of your own actions: She studied every evening and reaped the benefit at exam time. We sold them most of their modern weapons and now we are reaping the bitter harvest. She is reaping the rewards of success. reap what you have sown 种瓜得瓜种豆得豆 to win or lose as a result of something you did in the past. clean sweep 全部答对, 大获全胜 I. an overwhelming victory. a golden chance to complete a memorable clean sweep. Tradie VS Lady: That's a clean sweep. We are in good stead now. II. the winning of all prizes or contests in a competition. a situation in which one person or team wins all the prizes or all the different parts in a competition. The United States had a clean sweep in the 100 meters. only missing out on a clean sweep by 7 points. III. a thorough and sweeping change, inspection, etc. an order to make a clean sweep fore and aft every evening for quarters. 5. envisage [ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒ] I. contemplate or conceive of as a possibility or a desirable future event. "the Rome Treaty envisaged free movement across frontiers". II. to form a mental image of; visualize; contemplate. to envision. form a mental picture of (something not yet existing or known). If you envisage something, you imagine that it is true, real, or likely to happen. "he knew what he liked but had difficulty envisaging it". He envisages the possibility of establishing direct diplomatic relations in the future. He had never envisaged spending the whole of his working life in that particular job. Personally, I envisage them staying together. envision [ɪnˈvɪʒ(ə)n] to imagine that something will happen in the future, or is happening now. If you envision something, you envisage it. In the future we envision a federation of companies. Most people do stop at this point, not envisioning that there is anything beyond. That's a very different process from the one I envisioned. envision (someone) doing something: I can envision eighth-graders having trouble with this concept. We envision charging a small sum for the use of our services. The law envisages sentences of up to three years or fines for spreading what authorities deem to be false news about the military, but the maximum punishment rises to 15 years for cases deemed to have led to "severe consequences". colourway any of a range of combinations of colours in which a style or design is available. the color or colors of a product that is available in several different colors. one of several different combinations of colours in which a given pattern is printed on fabrics, wallpapers, etc I made another pair from a different colorway and it turned out fine. "our sweater comes in two colourways". 6. thuggish [ˈθʌɡɪʃ] [disapproval] behaving in a violent way. If you describe a person or their behaviour as thuggish, you mean they behave in a violent, rough, or threatening way. The owner of the stall, a large, thuggish man, grabbed Dai by the collar. thugging thuggery; the behaviour of a thug How do the unions enforce this policy? […] It is enforced by crime, by murder, by arson, by dynamite, by thugging and by the bludgeon. Expressing his thoughts, the King of Staten Island star shared his message in an Instagram Story. He captioned the post: "Pete Davidson is my brother. None of this is funny to me nor entertaining." He then accused Kanye of internet thugging and added, "A 44 year old man internet thugging is just sad." thuggery The violent, criminal acts that are associated with thugs, and/or the fashion, manner of speaking, and demeanor associated with them. Davidson's best friend, stand-up comedy star Ricky Velez has also slammed the Donda star. Taking to his social media, he reacted strongly and called Kanye's actions 'thuggish attacks' on Davidson. 7. make the world go around/round to be extremely important, so that many ordinary events could not happen without it. To be of critical or integral importance to the ordinary operation of life or the world at large. Love/Money makes the world go round. It's an unavoidable truth that money and commerce make the world go round. I tell you, coffee made the world go round when I was in grad school! bee's dick (Australia, slang) A small amount. Etymology: A humorous allusion to how short the penis of a bee would be. bee's whisker in a unit of measurement it means up a little bit: if marking a level mark on say a wall you would say up a bee's whisker for up a very little bit. It is a South Australian saying. I heard it once in NSW & knew that the person was from S.A. Contributor's comments: A very small measurement/movement: "Push it this way just a bee's dick." Contributor's comments: I remember this being used in the 1970s, particularly by Monash engineering students. Contributor's comments: Usually used to indicate missing out on something by the slimmest of margins, i.e. "He missed it by a bees dick (whisker).". 2022 洪水: Earlier on Thursday, the boy had allegedly scoped out the back storage area of a West End brewery after entering through a car park. The owner of the brewery, which had been flooded, told 7NEWS the alleged intruder was confronted by a staff member and chased away 赶跑. "He was in the area basically taking advantage of people who had been hit by the flood and looting, which was really disappointing to see," the owner said. The boy was arrested in the area about 6pm. Police have warned looters can face a maximum of 10 years in jail. Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll explained on Friday that the penalty is harsher than usual stealing offences because it occurs during a disaster. 7NEWS has also been told homes in flood-ravaged 洪水肆虐的 Auchenflower are also being targeted by looters, while Brisbane Councillor Sarah Hutton has lamented the looting in her suburb. "The mounted police ( Mounted police 骑警 are police who patrol on horseback or camelback. Their day-to-day function is typically picturesque or ceremonial, but they are also employed in crowd control because of their mobile mass and height advantage and increasingly in the UK for crime prevention and high visibility policing roles. The added height and visibility that the horses give their riders allows officers to observe a wider area, and it also allows people in the wider area to see the officers, which helps deter crime and helps people find officers when they need them. A disadvantage however is that, when employed for crowd control, there is a risk that some people may be trampled (resulting in injuries or death). In at least one case this has resulted in the police officer riding the horse (that caused the injury) to be sued. Mounted police may be employed for specialized duties ranging from patrol of parks and wilderness areas, where police cars would be impractical or noisy, to riot duty, where the horse serves to intimidate those whom it is desired to disperse through its larger size, or may be sent in to detain trouble makers or offenders from the crowd. For example, in the UK, mounted police are most often seen at football matches, although they are also a common sight on the streets of many towns and cities as a visible police presence and crime deterrent during the day and night. Some mounted police units are trained in search and rescue due to the horse's ability to travel where vehicles cannot. ) have arrived in Oxley. I hear there's looting. Absolutely ridiculous," she said on Facebook. Meanwhile, a Salvation Army store in Bundamba was robbed this week, with looters forcing open the door 强行开门, 撬开 when the power was out. "I can't believe that people would even contemplate doing that when a family is going through so much," she said on Sunrise on Wednesday. "It's the lowest of low. What worse can you do, like honestly?" 8. hubris [hjuːbrɪs] 傲慢无礼的 If you accuse someone of hubris, you are accusing them of arrogant pride. It was an act of hubris that was to cost him dear. thick-skinned I. having a thick skin. II. callous, insensitive. III. impervious to criticism became thick-skinned about his own work. impervious [ɪmˈpɜrviəs] I. 懒得搭理的. 不搭理的. 不为所动的. 不被影响的. 依然故我的. not affected by something or not seeming to notice it. If you are impervious to someone's actions, you are not affected or influenced by them. She seems almost impervious to the criticism from all sides. The political system there has been impervious to all suggestions of change. impervious to: She continued to work, apparently impervious to the midday heat. He carried on talking, impervious to the effect his words were having. II. science something that is impervious to a substance does not let the substance pass through it. Something that is impervious to 防水的, 隔热的, 穿不透的 water, heat, or a particular object is able to resist it or stop it passing through it. The floorcovering you select will need to be impervious to water. ...a layer of impervious rock. under/on false pretenses 假装...做某事, 假借谎言 by saying something that is not true, by pretending something, etc. If you do something under false pretences, you do it when people do not know the truth about you and your intentions. I could not go on living with a man who had married me under false pretences. Conrad had been imprisoned for a year for gaining money by false pretences. A reporter obtained documents from the company under false pretenses. by pretending that a certain condition or circumstance was true. if you get something under false pretences, you get it by tricking people. He obtained money by false pretences. The loan was obtained on/under false pretenses. pretext 找理由, 借口, 托辞 A pretext is a reason which you pretend has caused you to do something. a reason that you pretend to have in order to hide your real reason or intention. pretext for: The conflict was used as a pretext for introducing military rule. on/under the pretext of doing something: He visited her on the pretext of borrowing a book. a pretext to do something: A slight fall in profits gave the management a pretext to get rid of some older members of staff. They wanted a pretext for subduing the region by force. He excused himself on the pretext of a stomach upset. They would now find some dubious pretext to restart the war.
小心翼翼, 战战兢兢的: tiptoe around someone. walk on eggshells, walk on thin ice. 1. walk a tightrope 小心翼翼, 踩钢丝, 走钢丝 You can use tightrope in expressions such as walk a tightrope and live on a tightrope to indicate that someone is in a difficult situation and has to be very careful about what they say or do. They're walking a tightrope between being overprotective and not caring enough. For the past few days Corinne has been living on an emotional tightrope. 2. walks
on eggshells (tread on eggshells) 心惊胆战的. 极度小心的, 胆战心惊的, 小心翼翼的, 如履薄冰的,
脚步放轻的 (tiptoe around sb) to spare my feelings 怕惹生气, 怕惹恼, 怕惹到, 怕惹怒 ( be (walking/treading/skating) on thin ice
to be in a situation in which you are likely to upset someone or cause
trouble. If you say that someone is on thin ice or is skating on thin
ice, you mean that they are doing something risky which may have serious
or unpleasant consequences. I had skated on thin ice and, so far, got away with it. I was on thin ice, and I knew it. If you tread carefully 谨言慎行, 小心谨慎, you behave in a careful or cautious way. If you are hoping to form a new relationship tread carefully and slowly to begin with. There are three reasons for treading warily in such matters. tread a fine/delicate/narrow line/path 步步谨慎, 步步小心
If someone is treading a fine line or path, they are acting carefully
because they have to avoid making a serious mistake, especially in a
situation where they have to deal with two opposing demands. They
have to tread the delicate path between informing children and boring
them. The President will therefore have to tread a very fine line when
he addresses the parliament. tread a path If you tread a particular path, you take a particular course of action or do something in a particular way. He continues to tread an unconventional path. It was never her intention to tread the same path as her mother 走上同一条路. 走上老路. gingerly
in a very slow and careful way, usually because you are injured or
afraid of something. If you do something gingerly, you do it in a
careful manner, usually because you expect it to be dangerous,
unpleasant, or painful. She was touching the dressing gingerly with both hands. I drove gingerly past the security check points. walk on eggshells = walk on thin ice I. 如履薄冰的. Fig. to walk very carefully; to take steps gingerly小心翼翼的, 战战兢兢的. to try very hard not to upset someone or something. Everyone at the company was walking on eggshells until we heard that no one would be fired. Etymology: based on the idea that eggshells are easily broken. Since he stumbled and fell against the china cabinet, Bill has been walking on eggshells. II. Fig. to be very diplomatic and inoffensive. I was walking on eggshells trying to explain the remark to her without offending her further. Bernadette: Dan,
could I talk to you for a minute? Dan: Sure, go ahead. Bernadette: Just
want you to know I didn't mean to be rude about your grandson. Dan: No,
it's okay. Bernadette: No, it's not. Penny told me that everyone's
scared of me. Dan: What? What? Why would she say that? You know she
drinks, right? Penny: What? Bernadette: No, she's right, and I just want
you to know that from now on, I'm gonna be much more sensitive. I don't want anyone walking on eggshells (tread on eggshells) around me.
Dan: Oh, well, okay, then, uh, one thing I've been meaning to tell you
is that the company is gonna stop paying for our coffee. Bernadette: No
problem. When does that start? Dan: Five months ago. 3. tiptoe around 战战兢兢的, 小心翼翼的, 万分小心的( we see Moscow act far more delicately 小心翼翼的 with its air power. ) to avoid dealing directly with a problem. The government should stop tiptoeing around the issue of health care. Penny: Did you know last weekend Priya took Leonard rollerblading at the beach?
Can you believe that? Bernadette: I feel like I'm supposed to say that
bitch, but I don't have enough information. Penny: I am the one who
spent two years trying to get him to even go to the beach in the first
place. And he was so phobic about stepping on medical waste, I had to carry him to the water. Bernadette: I took Howard to the beach once. He almost burst into flames like a vampire. Penny: So what's the thanks I get for turning Leonard into quality boyfriend material? I have to tiptoe around his new girlfriend. Amy: I think you're on. Bernadette: Oh. That bitch! All of them are going to stop tip-toeing around Sheldon just so he won't get upset. They feel like they were being enablers 助纣为虐. on tiptoe(s) 垫着脚尖 on your toes with the heel of your foot lifted off the ground: The children stood on tiptoe in order to pick the apples from the tree. They walked across the room on tiptoe so as not to wake the baby. tiptoe I. If you tiptoe somewhere 轻手轻脚的, 蹑手蹑脚的, you walk there very quietly without putting your heels on the floor when you walk. walk quietly and carefully with one's heels raised and one's weight on the balls of the feet. "Liz tiptoed out of the room". She slipped out of bed and tiptoed to the window. II. If you do something on tiptoe or on tiptoes, you do it standing or walking on the front part of your foot, without putting your heels on the ground. She leaned her bike against the stone wall and stood on tiptoe to peer over it. III. 小心翼翼的. carefully avoid discussing or dealing with (a difficult or sensitive subject). "he admits he has never been one to tiptoe around controversial issues". toe the line = toe the mark 让干什么就干什么, 听话, 听领导话
accept the authority, policies, or principles of a particular group,
especially unwillingly. If you toe the line, you behave in the way that
people in authority expect you to. ...attempts to persuade the rebel
members to toe the line. to do what you are expected to do without
causing trouble for anyone. Meet a standard, abide by the rules If you want to get ahead, you'd better learn to toe the line. He's one of the politicians that wouldn't toe the party line. "he knew that he had to toe the official line because he couldn't afford to be put on the dole". The new director will make us toe the line, I'm sure. At daycare Brian has to toe the mark, but at home his mother's quite lenient. note: This idiom refers to runners in a race placing their toes on the starting line and not moving until the starting signal. 4. scrupulous [ˈskrupjələs]
I. 小心谨慎的. 生怕出错的. 怕做错事的. 小心翼翼的. very careful to be honest and to do what
is morally correct. Someone who is scrupulous takes great care to do
what is fair, honest, or morally right. You're
being very scrupulous, but to what end? I have been scrupulous about
telling them the dangers. The Board is scrupulous in its consideration
of all applications for licences. He is scrupulously fair, and popular
with his staff. Namibia has scrupulously upheld political pluralism. II. done very carefully, giving a lot of attention to details. Scrupulous
means thorough, exact, and careful about details. Both readers commend
Knutson for his scrupulous attention to detail. The streets and parks
were scrupulously clean. Hillsden scrupulously avoided any topic likely
to arouse suspicion as to his motives. vocabulary: Scrupulous means very careful to do things properly and correctly, such as paying friends back for money borrowed right away, or not returning a pair of shoes after they've been worn outdoors. A scrupulous person is full of scruples,
which are concerns about doing things that are morally right. Such a
person is hesitant or doubtful, and might have trouble deciding what is
morally right or wrong. The adjective scrupulous is from Latin
scrūpulōsus, from scrūpulus "scruple." A near synonym is punctilious. Having scruples 有道德观念, 有是非观的 is kind of like having a conscience: your morals or scruples cause you to act in ways you think are right. The idea of scruples has to do with ethics and morality: what is right and wrong. If you had no scruples at all,
you'd just kill, steal, cheat, and do God knows what else. Scruples are
a kind of moral compass that lets you know what's right. Often people
use this word in an outraged way when someone does something bad: "Don't you have any scruples?" Liars, thieves, criminals, and politicians have fewer scruples than the rest of us. 5. In the media I think sometimes you have to play this dance 不越雷池一步的, 小心翼翼的 ( dance with the devil To dance with the devil is to engage in risky, reckless, or potentially immoral behavior. ) where you have to be beige ( [beɪʒ] I. Something that is beige is pale brown in colour. The walls are beige. ...a pair of beige shorts. ...muted shades of white and beige. II. (informal) Comfortably dull and unadventurous,
in a way that suggests middle-class suburbia. In teenspeak, describes
someone as being undistinctive, insidious, neutral, vapid. ); you have to say the right things, don't say too much, don't say too little," Bridges explained. 6. finesse 利用巧舌如簧来躲避 [fɪˈnes] noun.
I. a delicate and skillful quality in the way you move or handle
something. Skill in the handling or manipulation of a situation. II.
skill in dealing with difficult situations, especially situations in
which you might easily offend people. If you do something with finesse, you do it with great skill and style. ...handling momentous diplomatic challenges with tact and finesse. verb. I. 小心翼翼的, 如履薄冰的做事, 施展外交般地高超技巧处理事情 to get something by dealing with people and situations in a skillful
way. To handle or manage carefully or skilfully; to manipulate in a
crafty way. to deal with a situation or a person in a skilful and often
slightly dishonest way: She finessed the interview by playing down her lack of experience and talking about her long-standing interest in the field. II. to steal without force, using trickery and lying. We gonna finesse 骗过, 巧偷 the self checkout by buying 3 packs of cookies and only swiping 1.
III. To evade (a problem, situation, etc.) by using some clever
argument or strategem. IV. to improve something so it is the best it can
possibly be: After they'd finessed 精化, 雕琢, 精雕细琢 the software, they followed the people using it for several months. stratagem [ˈstrætədʒəm] a plan for achieving something or for tricking someone. vocabulary: Having finesse means you can handle difficult situations with diplomacy and tact, like the finesse it takes to help two friends work out their differences — without taking sides or alienating either one. Finesse is having grace under pressure. It's handling the rantings of an angry customer with a smile and a calm tone. Someone who has finesse says the right thing at the right time
— or knows when to say nothing at all. Finesse looks like fineness and
in fact comes from the Middle French word that means exactly that —
delicate in nature. People with finesse can handle anything — with a
delicate approach that really works. 7. punctilious [pʌŋkˈtɪliəs] I.
事无巨细的, 生怕出错的, 战战兢兢的, 小心翼翼的. 注意言行的. 规规矩矩的. 不肯逾矩的. 不敢逾越雷池一步的. very careful to behave well, and to follow the details of rules or instructions. Strictly attentive to detail;
meticulous or fastidious, particularly to codes or conventions. With a punctilious slap of the gloves, the duel was now inevitable. very careful to behave well, and to follow the details of rules or instructions. He was punctilious about being ready and waiting in the entrance hall exactly on time. He was a punctilious young man. II. Precise or scrupulous; finicky or nitpicky. vocabulary: A punctilious person pays attention to details. Are you always precisely on time? Is your room perfectly neat? Do you never forget a birthday or a library book's due date? Then you are one of the punctilious people. The adjective punctilious, pronounced "punk-TIL-ee-us," is related to the Italian word puntiglio, meaning "fine point." For someone who is punctilious no point is too fine, no detail too small, to be overlooked. The word is often used to describe people, but it can be used more broadly to apply to observations, behavior, or anything else that is characterized by close attention to detail. 8. look over your shoulder 提心吊胆, 战战兢兢 to behave in a way that shows you feel nervous about something that might happen. He was constantly looking over his shoulder, afraid his past crimes would catch up with him. white-knuckle something 心惊胆战的, 战战兢兢的度过, 强忍着过, 担惊受怕的过 To endure despite feeling terror, fear, apprehension, anxiety, discomfort, or torment. to survive something threatening through strained endurance, that is to say, holding on tight. The flight from New York was terrible. We had to white knuckle the entire flight. white-knuckle 吓人的, 攥紧拳头的 adj. I. In a fairground, a white-knuckle ride is any large machine that people ride on which is very exciting but also frightening. Causing fear, excitement, apprehension, suspense, or nervousness. ...white-knuckle rides such as the rollercoaster. II. A white-knuckle experience is something that you find very exciting but also very frightening. ...a hellish white-knuckle ride through the heavy London traffic. white-knuckle ride/journey I. An extremely exciting ride at an amusement park, etc., where one's hands grip on so tightly that the knuckles appear white. a white-knuckle ride or journey makes you feel very frightened because it is exciting or dangerous. II. (figuratively) Any extremely exciting or nerve-racking experience.
