核心畫面

Think of it as: something pushes and you have no way to push back. You may want to resist, you may even try — but the resisting does not work.

有一股力量推過來,而你這邊沒有可以擋的東西。字面上就是 ir-(不)+ resist(抵抗)+ -ible(能夠)—更多收起有一股力量推過來,而你這邊沒有可以擋的東西。字面上就是 ir-(不)+ resist(抵抗)+ -ible(能夠)——「擋不住的」。重點不是那股力量有多大,而是「你想擋卻擋不住」這件事:你心裡明明知道該停手,手還是伸過去了。所以這個字永遠帶著一點「我輸給它」的味道,通常還是甘願地輸。

From the word’s history

From ir- (not) + resistible; resist goes back to Latin re- (back) + sistere (to stand, to make stand). The picture inside the word is literally 'you cannot stand against it'.

這個字是 ir-(不)+ resistible(可抵抗的)組成的;resist 來自拉丁文 re-(回、反)+ sistere(站住、使站立),字面是「站著擋回去」。所以 irresistible 裡藏的畫面比較像:你站不住、擋不回去——這正好就是現代兩個用法共同的核心。

Wiktionary etymology tree supplied in the payload (Latin in- / ir- + re- + *steh₂- 'to stand', via sistō)

Two branches

吸引力擋不住

擋不住的力量來自外面某個好東西,它把你拉過去。

impossible to resist · adjective · C2

So attractive or so good that you cannot stop yourself from wanting it or doing it.

難以抗拒

力量擋不住

同樣擋不住,但這股力量不吸引你、只是壓過你——通常從你自己內部或從情勢裡湧出來。

unstoppable (force/feeling) · adjective · C2

Too strong to be stopped or held back, used about a feeling, a force, or a need.

不可抗拒

原始詞典資料2 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,原文照列,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。

irresistibleadj/ˌɪɹ.ɪˈzɪs.tə.bəl/

  • 1

    Impossible to resist.

    • Where the breakdown of traditional authority set the poor of the earth on the march, where they left the obscurity of their misfortunes and streamed upon the market-place, their furor seemed as irresistible as the motion of the stars, a torrent rushing forward with elemental force and engulfing a whole world.
    • Though his account of written communication over the past 5,000 years necessarily has a powerful forward momentum, his diversions down the fascinating byways of the subject are irresistible: at what point did handwriting begin to express individual personality?
  • 2

    Compellingly attractive.

資料來源:英文維基詞典 English WiktionaryCC BY-SA 4.0)。 原文照列,未經改寫。