看起來就發光
這一族就是核心本身:字面的「發亮」用在眼睛看得到的東西上。
grand, beautiful · adjective · C1
Very beautiful to look at, and also large or grand, used about a place, a building, a view, or a big object.
壯麗
核心畫面
Picture something that shines: a great hall lit up, a palace catching the sun. It is not just good — it is bright enough that you stop and look. The praise in this word always has light in it.
某個東西在發光——一座燈火通明的大廳、陽光下的宮殿、開闊得讓人吸一口氣的山景。重點不只是「好」,而是「亮到讓你停下來…更多收起
某個東西在發光——一座燈火通明的大廳、陽光下的宮殿、開闊得讓人吸一口氣的山景。重點不只是「好」,而是「亮到讓你停下來看」。splendid 的稱讚裡永遠有光:不是安靜的好,是耀眼的、有排場的、值得人抬頭的好。後來它退到日常口語裡當「太好了」用時,那點光還在,只是變成語氣上的熱度。這個字整體偏英式、偏舊派,聽起來有點老式的紳士味。From the word’s history
From Latin splendidus, from splendēre 'to shine, to be bright'. The literal meaning is simply 'shining' — every modern sense is that brightness applied to something: a building, an idea, a piece of news.
來自拉丁文 splendidus,而它來自動詞 splendēre「發光、閃耀」。也就是說這個字的字面意思就是「發亮的」,沒有別的。今天所有的用法——誇一棟建築、誇一個點子、聽到好消息喊一聲——都是把這道光打到不同的東西上。同一家族的還有名詞 splendour/splendor(壯麗、輝煌)和 resplendent(光彩奪目的),記住這個「光」,整組字就串起來了。
Wiktionary, entry 'splendid', citing Latin splendidus < splendēre 'to shine'
Three branches
好到值得誇
把「發光」從眼睛看得到的東西,轉到看不見的品質上:抽象的東西也可以亮眼。
excellent · adjective · C1
Very, very good; used about an idea, a chance to do something, or work that you think is done really well.
出色
孤立得很徹底
借的還是「氣派」那層意思,但被固定在一個諷刺意味的片語裡,不能拆開理解。
splendid isolation · adjective · C1
Used to show strongly that a place or person stands completely apart, with nothing and nobody nearby — almost always in the phrase splendid isolation.
完全孤立
原始詞典資料3 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。
splendidadj/ˈsplɛndɪd/
- 1
Possessing or displaying splendor; shining; very bright.
- a splendid sun
- It is distinguished from xanthocobaltic nitrate by its crystalline form, and by yielding a splendid cinnabarred precipitate with a solution of iodine in potassium iodide […]
- 2
Gorgeous; magnificent; sumptuous; of remarkable beauty.
- a splendid palace
- a splendid procession
- 3
Brilliant, excellent, of a very high standard.
- "We've fallen on our feet and no mistake," said Peter. "This is going to be perfectly splendid. That old chap will let us do anything we like."
- November 2 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk Hart had to make two splendid saves as Van Persie and Di María took aim and Fellaini should really have done better with a headed chance.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。