- 1
Tactlessness is the noun — the quality of being , or a particular act of being . It works two ways, and students should know both. Uncountable, it names the trait itself: 'His tactlessness has cost him a lot of friends.' 'I was shocked by the tactlessness of the question.' Countable, though rarer, it names one specific thing that was said: 'another of his famous tactlessnesses' — but honestly, most speakers avoid that plural and say 'another remark' instead, so I would not go looking for chances to use it. The word carries the same gentle judgement as the adjective: it points at a lack of skill in handling people, not at bad intentions. Because it is a long, heavy noun, it belongs mostly to writing and to careful, formal speech — a complaint letter, a book review, a manager's report. In ordinary talk, people usually turn it back into the adjective and say 'that was so '. Its opposite is '' itself, which is why the pair is a little lopsided: we have a short simple word for having the skill () and a long one for lacking it (tactlessness), which is quietly funny given what the word means.
不得體、不懂拿捏分寸(名詞);口語會說「白目」的那種狀態。中文很少用名詞形式,多半改成形容說法:「他講話很不得體」。
組成tactless (without tact) + -ness (the ending that turns an adjective into the name of a quality). Inside that, tactless is tact + -less. Three pieces again: tact + -less + -ness. The -ness ending is everywhere in English — kindness, darkness, happiness, sadness — and it always does this same job.
同家族的字
- tactlessthe adjective this noun is built from
- tactthe root noun; tactlessness is its absence
- kindnesssame -ness ending turning an adjective into a quality
- carelessnesssame two endings stacked the same way: care + -less + -ness
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。
tactlessnessnoun
- 1
The state or quality of being tactless.
- His tactlessness combined with his bluntness made him many enemies.
- 2
The result or product of being tactless.
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。