- 1隱伏的、陰險的（問題或變化悄悄擴大，起初不易發覺；指人時才較常說「陰險」）
When a change or a problem is insidious, it does not hit you all at once. It grows little by little, and people often do not notice it until the harm is already serious. Doctors use this word for illness that hides for a long time. Writers use it for habits, and for unfair rules, that quietly make life worse. The word feels formal, and a bit dark. You would not call a loud crash insidious. Though actually, some people also use it about a person who is clever in a bad way, like someone laying a trap — that is closer to the old Latin picture of an ambush. In talk about problems and illness, the slow-and-unnoticed meaning is the one you will hear most.
From the word’s history
From Latin īnsidiōsus 'cunning', from īnsidiae 'ambush', from in + sedeō 'to sit'.
源自拉丁文 īnsidiae「埋伏」，來自 in「在內」加 sedeō「坐」。
組成From Latin īnsidiōsus, 'cunning, deceitful,' from īnsidiae, 'a lying in wait, an ambush,' plus -ōsus ('full of'). Those come from īnsideō, 'to sit in or on': in ('in, on') + sedeō ('to sit'). The old picture is someone sitting in wait.
同家族的字
- sedentaryboth go back to Latin sedeō, 'to sit'; insidious began as sitting in wait
- insidiouslythe adverb, insidious + -ly
- insidiousnessthe noun, insidious + -ness
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。
insidiousadj/ɪnˈsɪdi.əs/
- 1
Causing harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner.
- Strong and vigorous man as he looks, Livingstone has been for years the victim of a secret and insidious disease.
- At some point in time they may become the source of an insidious cancer.
- 2
Intending to entrap; alluring but harmful.
- Hansel and Gretel were lured by the witch’s insidious gingerbread house.
- Gashford slid his cold insidious palm into his master's grasp, and so, hand in hand, and followed still by Barnaby and by his mother too, they mingled with the concourse.
- 3
Treacherous.
- The battle was lost due to the actions of insidious defectors.
- But with whom do you contract that alliance? With the natural enemy of France — that insidious house of Austria — which detests our country from feeling, system, and necessity.
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。